An Experiment to Investigate Effects of Water Pollutants Such As Phosphorous and Nitrogen on the Growth of Algae

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An Experiment to Investigate Effects of Water Pollutants Such As Phosphorous and Nitrogen on the Growth of Algae

Abstract

Water pollution has become a daily phenomenon in the ecosystem today. The human activities have been the major contributing agents of water pollution in a number of ways. For example, activities such as farming, sewage systems and urban drainage have proven to be the primary origin of chemicals and other pollutants which drains into the fresh water rivers and lakes. Most common pollutants are nitrogen and phosphorous, which causes rapid growth on algae when they are in excess. On the contrary some pollutants like acid rain decreases the growth of algae when there concentration in water increases. An experiment was conducted to investigate the rate of absorbance (At 450 nm) of control versus pollutants treatment by concentration and lab group to measure the growth rate of algae under different pollutants concentration using a spectrometer. Through the laboratory experiment, it was asserted that that growth of algae increases with increase in the concentration of pollutants; nitrogen and phosphorus but decreases with the increases in the concentration of acid rain.

Introduction

Water pollution or contamination has...