| Category | EAEV | L16 | The Effect of SAP's on Soil Moisture and Plant Height -Solving |
| The Drought Cri |
| Abstract | In my project, I wanted to demonstrate and develop a viable solution to |
| the drought crisis of countries around the world. I discovered that super |
| absorbent polymers, or SAP's, are substances that have the ability to |
| absorb water up to 300 times their own weight. They have been used |
| for many years in household products like diapers and cleaning |
| supplies. However, more recently, SAP's are being used in the |
| agricultural industry as a method to create an "underwater reservoir" |
| for their crops. However, commercial SAP's are not a viable solution to |
| the drought-infested countries that could benefit from them the most. |
| Commercial SAP's are very expensive and have harmful effects on the |
| external environment and the soil. Therefore, I developed an alternative |
| SAP that is organic, low-cost, eco-friendly, and best of all, made from |
| waste products. Once I discovered that one of the main components in |
| orange peels are polysaccharides, I developed three organic SAP's |
| made from avocado skins and orange peels that can even outperform |
| commercial SAP's. Orange peels contain 60% polysaccharides and |
| when combined with oil from avocado skins, they can produce a strong |
| cross-linked SAP. Each SAP was made through a different series of |
| steps and they each had different effects on the plants. To test their |
| effectiveness against commercial SAP's, I tested their effect on the soil |
| moisture and plant height on the ocimum sanctum plant. I poured 100ml |
| of water on the first day and no additional watering was done for 10 |
| days. The five groups that were tested are as follows: orange peel |
| Solution, orange/avocado Mixture, Orange/avocado Powder, control |
| group (no SAP), and the acrylic SAP (commercial SAP). The Plant |
| Height was recorded using a ruler and Soil Moisture was recorded |
| using a moisture meter once every 24 hours for each group. The |
| orange peel/avocado skin mixture that I made outperformed the |
| commercial acrylic SAP in both the plant height and the soil moisture |
| level by the 10th and final day of the testing period and showed that a |
| cost-effective and viable solution could be developed. I have conducted |
| extensive research on this topic and have a deep comprehension of |
| the processes involved with the formation and utilization of SAP's. |
| Scientists have been researching the question of how to develop |
| organic SAP's for many years and have even undergone testing with |
| alternative SAP's produced from corn and this project further attests to |
| these ongoing scientific studies. My project was awarded the grand |
| prize at my DCMST school science fair and I look forward to sharing it |
| at this regional fair. The organic SAP's I produced are an advancement |
| towards developing a solution to the critical drought crisis around the |
| world. It is most remarkable that a product we would consider to be |
| waste, that we wouldn't even take a second look at before tossing into |
| the garbage, can actually be used to solve one of the biggest and most |
| crucial humanitarian crises that is facing our world today. |
| Bibliography | http://nptel.ac.in/courses/116102006/17http://www.scienceasia.org/200 |
| 7.33(s1)/v33s_039_043.pdf |