Scientific Inquiry Lab

Scientific Inquiry Lab

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SCIE-207

January 12, 2012

American InterContinental University

Scientific Inquiry Lab

Purpose

The purpose of this experiment is to ascertain as to how nitrogen fertilizer affects the soil in arable and non-arable land as the unit amount is increase.

Introduction

Nitrogen is a gas that is readily available in the atmosphere, soil and biological material and it plays an important role in the environment. It helps in maintaining an abundance of nutritious food supply for both human and animals (Mikkelsen, 2012). Just as human need nitrogen, the ecosystem demands it as well, more so, since the natural world does not produce enough. It is also one of the essential elements that helps photosynthesis and create the protein that plant needs in order to grow; this would include corn, wheat and rice (Charles, 2013). As our population throughout the world increases to seven billion people so does the demand for food which places greater emphasis on generating synthetic nitrogen fertilizer because without it the current civilization would experience extreme difficulty sustaining life. On the other hand, nitrogen fertilizer poses a great threat to the ecosystem. When the fertilizer is overused, it suffocates wildlife in lakes and estuaries. In addition, to contaminating ground water. Nitrogen fertilizer also adds to the current dilemma of global warming (Charles, 2013).

Hypothesis

When nitrogen fertilizer is added to an arable or non-arable land, the crops or plants will increase exponentially.

Prediction

If nitrogen fertilizer is added to an arable or non-arable land, than the crops or plants will increase exponentially.

Methods

Two sites were used to conduct this experiment. The first site was one-hundred acres of arable land while the other consisted of one- hundred acres of non-arable land. 50 lbs of rice, wheat and corn was sown in both arable and non-arable soil. Both site was observe for the first three months...