Super-absorbent polymer prepared from orange peels

[deleted-373171]

Hi Sybee,

We are doing good. Hope you are all staying safe. How is FL now.

Find below my updates:

- I started preparing orange Avocado peel mixture.

- I ordered meter and hopefully I will get it by monday

- I caught sufficient rain water for the experiment. Also I got river water. I will start making NaCl standards this weekend and prepare brackish water. I will keep you updated where I stand.

- Regarding the second sub experiment, yes you are correct, she mentioned too many variables and also the procedure is very complex to understand.
I am planning to get only idea of it and with your help decide what to test from the perspective of real time cultivation. Yes ofcourse I am planning to choose different types of soil.

Can you please suggest me on the types of soil. Hope I can proceed the experiment with Tomato plant right. Will write to you in detail all my clarifications by this week end.

Meanwhile can you also please let me know your ideas which will be helpful for me to research on this topic.

Thanks and stay safe
Lakshita

[SciB]

Hi Lakshita,

I hope you are OK and everyone in your family is able to work and live with this threat hanging over us. I just wish it would go away and stay away, but in the meantime we'll all just have to continue wearing masks and avoiding crowds. At least some people are trying to keep a sense of humor. I saw somebody wearing a mask with a cat nose and whiskers!

I think your plans for the science project are great. For the second part, I would test the SAP with sandy soil that is low in organic matter. The orancado should really help it hold water. I think you will have to use a standard fertilizer like MiracleGro with micronutrients so the tomato growth is not limited by lack of N, P or K, or trace minerals. Also, tomatoes grow best in acidic soil with a pH of 6, so maybe you should add a soil test kit to your list of home lab items.

For the other soils, you could dig up some woodsy dirt from an area that has not been disturbed for years. That will have lots of organic matter and should retain water quite well on its own. Soil built up from decaying leaves tends to have a pH around 6 so should be perfect for tomatoes. Now, I had an idea how to make your project more real-to-life. Go to a couple of farms and ask the farmer if you can have a bag full of the dirt used to grow a crop to test with your SAP. I think they will be really interested in your project and be happy to help you--I certainly would be if I was a farmer. Try to get dirt from an organic farm if possible and compare it to a conventional farm, just make sure the dirt does not contain toxic pesticides or herbicides as they may inhibit growth of the tomatoes.

Let me know what you decide to do. I really enjoy your posts and am excited as you are to see the results of your project.

Stay well,

Sybee

[deleted-373171]

Hi Mr.Sybee,
How are you. How is your place. Here in my county counts are increasing for the past 2 weeks and our county Ofallon listed as hotspot for COVID . It is been 2 weeks since I emailed you. I have been busy with other stuff too and next week is ASU science fair competition deadline. So I was preparing for that.
But good news is I made some progress in our current project and was also doing research on my second and third steps.
I got salinity meter and started my first experiment. I have completed with my Orange/Avocado peel mixture preparation in right time. Also I found one pet store holding brackish water fish in a separate tank and I asked them if I can have some brackish water from that tank and they were okay with it.
As we planned our first step would be to test “If the water has a greater salinity content, then the absorption capacity of the SAP will be lower”.
Initially I was thinking of using distilled water as a control. But then when I tested the salinity of the Rain water, the salinity was 0. So I guess we can use rain water as control group right? Please suggest me.
I tested salinity in rain water vs tap water vs river water vs Brackish water
Attached are the results I saw:

[The extension xlsx has been deactivated and can no longer be displayed.]

I checked the water absorption capacity of 2 grams of orancado SAP. As we did in our last year project, after 15 minutes, excess water was pipetted off and final weight was recorded.

[The extension xlsx has been deactivated and can no longer be displayed.]

Please let me know what do you think of the readings and if this looks ok? I didn’t have any sample project to compare against and hence I don’t know how the reading looks like.

Once we finalize on this, I will email you on my ideas for the next step. Thanks so much for your time on my project and helping me out. Really without your ideas, it would have been vague for me.

Thanks,
Lakshita

[SciB]

Hi Lakshita,

Florida is still recording a large number of new cases every day but at least the rate of hospitalization and death is lower. The healthcare people have learned the best ways to treat a variety of people, so the disease is not as severe. Now if the vaccine companies can show that their immunizations are safe and effective, maybe we can finally turn the corner on this plague.

Your salinity data and SAP results look good, but I didn't see the standard deviation or standard error. How many tests did you do for each type of water? The salinity really does make a big difference in how much water the SAP can hold.

I was wondering if there would be a way to read the salinity of a soil sample, so I did a search and found a good site from the U of Georgia Ag Extension service: https://extension.uga.edu/publications/ ... mendations

You can test your soil samples for salinity using the method described on the UGA website and your meter. Then you can correlate the water holding capacity of a kind of soil with its salinity. The higher the soil salinity, the less water the SAP can hold.

Let me know whenever you have questions. I want you to be up on all the science of conductivity testing and the effects of salts on plant growth. Some plants are sensitive to salts and some are not. Why?

Best wishes,
Sybee

[deleted-373171]

Hi Mr.Sybee,
Thanks so much for your clarification. I am glad you are staying safe. We are also trying to be safe as much as we can. Here counts are increasing but still schools are reopening. Though I opted for Virtual this semester, still they want me to come for the classes which they cannot offer virtually like Biomed and orchestra. Really don’t know how that is going to work.

I am glad the salinity data looks good. I have done just one trial for your validation. I will do the 3 trials and calculate SD and SE. Will let you know once the final data is ready.

I have gone through the link you sent me on the soil salinity. That really looks good. But I feel since I have already done salinity test on water, it has been proven (by sub-experiment 1) that the SAP will absorb less when there is more salt in its surroundings. So I don’t want the 2 sub experiments to prove the same point.
I came up with the below idea for my second sub-experiment.

From my research, I found that while SAP is used as a soil conditioner to enhance water holding capacity of the soil, quality of water to be used for the irrigation and properties of the soil shall be the governing factors that ought to be considered. Absorption rate of SAP is greatly reduced when it is emended with the mixture of soil and water. As it is experimentally proven that SAP can be used economically when irrigation is either rain fed or conducted with the water of surface storage reservoir, hence the subsequent effective factor is the soil property. Soils with higher permeability and low water retention (sandy soils) give less time to SAP particles to absorb water. Loam has medium state of permeability and water retention hence SAP particles gets average opportunity to absorb water from the soil water mixture. Silt and clay have lower permeability and higher water retention hence higher absorbance rate can be achieved.

Considering the above points, I am thinking to compare 3 types of soil – Sand vs Loam vs Clay and test “higher the permeability the lower the water retention”. From this experiment, I wanted to prove: SAP should be used in clayey soils. SAP is not recommended with quick draining soils (desert sands and coarse grained soils). SAP can only absorb water when it is fully surrounded by soil water mixtures hence soil amended with SAP if watered through drip or sprinkler type irrigation methods shall not be applicable.

I am planning to use Rain water against this soil types.
- Also hope Rain water can be my control for the first sub-experiment right?
- Please also let me know if Red soil is in the category of Loam soil. If Red soil is Loam soil type, then I could use this for my experiment since dry Mediterranean regions use Red soil for agriculture.
- What do you suggest I use for Clay soil?
- Based on what I’ve planned so far for my second sub-experiment, I don’t think there is a control right?
- Also do I need to test the specific permeability of the soil though I already know as high/medium/low?

Please help me with your suggestions.

Thanks,
Lakshita

[SciB]

Hi Lakshita,

I'm sure your school teachers and staff are going to take every precaution to make sure you are all safe. And you guys are probably very careful in following the safety rules. In chemistry and biology labs, we have to wear PPE anyway, so masking up is just one more thing to do.

Wow! What a lot of questions. I'll have to think about some of them and get back to you.

Collecting rainwater to use is a great idea, just make sure that you use a clean container to catch it and let it fall directly from the sky--don't use water that washes off the roof of the house as it could contain dirt or pollutants.

I have been thinking about suggesting this--have you talked to your county agricultural extension agent about your project? Soil types and water retention and salinity are just the things that they should be experts in. You could tell them that you need different kinds of soil to experiment with and ask them if they know where you could dig up some clay soil. Sandy soil is pretty common and easy to identify. Loam comes in various types and some may have greater natural water holding properties than others. It depends on the amount of organic matter they contain.

Here's some videos about soil testing to watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6ogekvNO_8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6ogekv ... 6ogekvNO_8

I'll get back to you on the other questions, and let me know if you think of any more.

Best wishes,

Sybee

[deleted-373171]

Hi Mr.Sybee,

Thanks so much for the details.

- Yes rain water that I collected is direct from clouds and I am planning to collect more this week. We are again getting rain this week.

- I saw the video links you mentioned and as you suggested I tried finding agricultural agent. Couldn't find one. But my mom helped me find US department of agriculture contacts and she emailed them. I am planning to call them during business hours as well.

- I found this clay soil online in Amazon. Please let me know if this is ok to use?

(USA Warehouse) RED DIRT SOIL CLAY GEORGIA -/PT# HF983-1754420212

- For sandy soil, can we use succulent soils?

- Can you let me know if Red soil is loam type so I can try finding red soil online and I can mimic this soil type as used in Mediterranean regions

Thanks really for your time. I guess I am progressing. Please also go over my previous email and let me know what you suggest for my questions.

Thanks,
Lakshita

[SciB]

Hi Lakshita,

I hope all is well with you and your family.

Wow! You have been making progress. I read over your past five or so posts to see what questions I might have missed. I know you asked me if red soil was loamy, but I can’t answer that without seeing the soil. Georgia red soil has a lot of clay. Florida has red sandy soil. And someplace probably has loamy red soil. What I was trying to suggest by sending you the links to the soil test videos was that you should test the red soil using the jar method and record the depth of the components—sand, clay and loam. That way, when someone asks you about the type of soil you used in your SAP experiments, you can give them the test results. I would do this for all three of the soil types that you choose so that you can be sure that they are what you are saying they are.

If you buy commercial soil—for succulents as you said—you need to know what else might be in it, like fertilizer, micronutrients or water-holding materials. That’s why I would choose soils from the environment, preferably out in the woods away from homes and lawns, pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.

Plant growth is affected by the nutrients in the soil, so you also need to try and define your soils according to their fertility. Get a soil test kit and you will be able to measure the levels of nitrogen (N), potassium (K) and phosphorus (P), the three main nutrients. You will also be able to measure pH, which is important for tomatoes, because they do best at a pH a little on the acid side like 5.5 to 6.0. You said you planned to use tomatoes as your test subject. Is that still your plan? When are you going to do the plant growth experiment? Tomatoes do poorly in the cool temperatures of fall. It would be better to choose peas or lettuce.

You will be comparing water types with different salinities tested with your meter. Are you also planning to test the soils for salinity? That needs to be done because soil salinity will affect the SAP’s water retention ability. I sent you a link to U Georgia describing a way to measure soil salinity.

You also asked about controls. Rainwater is your zero salinity control and soil without SAP is the soil amendment control. I don’t think you need to measure soil permeability as the SAP is supposed to eliminate the negative effects of soil drying out by providing a reservoir of water for plants to draw on. What do you think?

The main question I think you should focus on is which type of soil benefits most from SAP amendment. A farmer is going to ask you, How much orancado should I add to MY soil? So, you need to measure the natural water-holding property of the soil and have a formula for how much SAP to add for a certain number of square feet of crop area. The amount of SAP added will also depend on the salinity of irrigation water and the natural salinity of the soil. And, of course, the amount of water needed depends on the crop being grown, so for the farmer, you might have to give an answer based on light, medium or heavy water needs.

I have been gardening all my life, mostly organically so I am very familiar with soils and plant needs. For example, composted organic material like cow or horse manure provides nutrients, but also fibrous matter that can hold water similar to SAP. That’s one of the main purposes of adding compost to sandy soils, although any organic matter like grass clippings or leaves will compost naturally on the soil surface and provide the same water-holding value. That’s how Nature has been doing it for many millions of years. Soil bacteria and fungi, along with earthworms are the perfect garden companions for creating healthy soil. Avoiding chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides is the best way to keep the soil ecosystem healthy.

I hope I have answered all your questions, and I hope you will have many more. You have to take a more proactive role in your own education now that schools are going virtual. Fortunately we have the greatest opportunity ever for self-education—the internet. And you have people like me willing to help you advance in your career and find your best place in a changed world.

Keep on posting and I’ll keep on answering!

Sybee

[deleted-373171]

Hi Mr.Sybee,

How are you. Sorry there has been gap posting my clarifications. I was busy working on my ASU science fair. I submitted all my answers and project presentation yesterday for ASU competition. Results will be announced mid september. I used my previous year project along with video presentation.

I read through your clarifications. It was very helpful. I started researching again. I will post my clarifications starting tomorrow. Guess I am getting hold of my new project. Thanks so much for your help.

Thanks and stay safe,
Lakshita

[SciB]

Hi Lakshita,

Thanks for the update on your status with the ASU project. Please keep me posted on your progress and if you have any questions I will be glad to help.

Did you notice that your continuing Scibuddies topic has received almost 14,000 views! That makes you a celebrity in the science fair world. Everyone must be looking forward to your new project so let's make sure it is even greater than the previous one.

When do your fall classes start? What grade will you be in? You will be making history as the first fall class since the start of the pandemic. The CDC has learned a lot about the virus since the beginning of 2020, but we have not subdued it yet. The vaccines should certainly reduce the infection rate, but RNA viruses are the type that mutate easily so there will always be a few strains that are not recognized by the vaccine. Masking and distancing are still advised through the end of this year, I think.

Stay safe,

Sybee

[deleted-373171]

Hi Mr.Sybee,

Yes, I realized we had the most views in the forums just recently. It's so exciting to know many people I don't even know are interested in our project. It also puts a little pressure. However, with your help, I'm sure each of my science fair experiments will be better than the previous one.

My fall classes start on August 31st and I will be a sophomore. Yes, I agree that the CDC has made progress since the start of the pandemic. One of my passions is singing and unfortunately I can't perform in person soon because the CDC says that singers spread the virus farther than anyone else.

Yes sure, I will post my clarifications.

Thanks,
Lakshita

[SciB]

I know it is especially hard on performers now because all the clubs and halls and theaters are closed. Some are giving virtual performances online, but it is not the same. Outdoor concerts and recitals are OK in most places, but the audience still has to observe the precautions.

Write up your experimental protocol and send it to me and I will go over it and make suggestions.

Stay happy--we will get through this,

Sybee

[deleted-373171]

Hi Mr.Sybee,
Yes as you mentioned I am performing couple of programs virtually but it is not always the same experience as in person.
I did some research and came up with the following idea from whatever we have discussed so far.
As discussed we are going to have 3 sub-experiments:

1. If the water has a greater salinity content, then the absorption capacity of the SAP will be lower.
I compared Rain water vs Tap water vs River water vs Brackish water. Rain water served as control.

I shared with you the values I got before. Planning to do another 3 trials this week.

2. Second sub-experiment is: Compare 3 types of soil (Sand vs Loam vs Clay). As you suggested I am planning to take soil from various places from the ground, and perform Jar test to find the soil texture.
I am planning to test: “If the permeability of the soil is higher, then the absorption capacity of the SAP will be lower.”

Wanted to prove that Clay which has low permeability will have more absorption capacity than sandy soil with high permeability.

I wanted to use rain water to test the absorption. For this sub-experiment, we don’t have a control.

3. Third sub-experiment:
Now that we know sandy soil has less absorption capacity, I wanted to see how SAPs can enhance the absorption in sandy soil.
In arid regions, we find mostly sandy soil and I really wanted to see if Tomato plants which are acid loving Mediterranean plants can be grown in sandy soil.
From my research, I found sandy soil is often acidic so acid loving plants thrive.

My test would be: “If the amount of SAP is increased in highly permeable soil, the average plant growth would be significantly higher”
I am planning to keep the amount of water constant across all the pots.
Control is sandy soil with no SAP added
I would add 1 gram SAP, 2 gram SAP, and 3 grams of SAP across individual pots with the same amount of soil.
I am using rain water to water the plants in this experiment as well.

. I don’t want too many variables to be tested in each experiment which makes it complicated and difficult to understand. Also I believe the fact that more salt in the SAP’s surrounding will lead to less absorption will already be proven in sub-experiment 1. Therefore, the addition of soil salinity test will make the project less straightforward and concise. These are just my thoughts, but please let me know what you think of this plan.
Thanks so much for your time.
Stay safe
Lakshita

[SciB]

Hi Lakshita,

I hope you and your family are all doing well and staying happy and busy. We are ok here, but everybody is impatient to have things back the way they were--if that is even possible.

In the 2nd subexpt you said, “If the permeability of the soil is higher, then the absorption capacity of the SAP will be lower”. Can you explain how you will do this experiment?
Also, finding sandy soil is pretty easy, but clay soil is harder to find in my experience. Did you have some ideas as to where to look for clay soil? You could try doing a search for clay deposits in your area and see if there’s a geological survey that shows where such soils might be found. That way you wouldn’t be searching areas where there was no clay.

I think that you need to at least measure the salinity of the sandy soil, because that is the one that you will use to measure the effects of SAP on tomato growth. You have proven that higher salt content in the water reduces the water holding capacity of SAP, but you haven’t tested soil with salts. If you happened to collect sand that had high salinity, it would seriously affect your results, and you would not know unless you had tested the soil for salinity.

I would also measure the water-holding capacity of the sandy soil with the 1, 2 and 3 g of SAP mixed in—before you have planted the tomatoes. That way you will know the effect of SAP on water retention in the short term.

For the 3rd subexpt, are you planning to start the experiment with seeds? You could grow a bunch of tomato seedlings in a plastic tray and then transplant them into the test soil when they had their first true leaves. I don’t know how tomato growers plant their crops, but I have never grown tomatoes directly from seed in the garden.

You are doing a great job as usual, Lakshita and I am proud of you. I am on your team and looking forward to a long-continued winning streak.

All the best,
Sybee

[deleted-373171]

Hi Mr.Sybee,
Thanks so much for your clarifications. Your ideas are helping me a lot to re-think on my experiment.
Still 1 more week to go for my school to reopen. Not sure on the schedules yet. I will keep you posted. You stay safe there too.

Find below my answers to your questions and my thoughts:

1. For my second sub experiment: “If the permeability of the soil is higher, then the absorption capacity of the SAP will be lower”, I am planning to follow the below steps to test it.

As we discussed I am not planning to test the permeability of the soil unless you suggest me otherwise.
I am going to compare sandy vs clay vs loam soil. Amount of water , amount of SAP and amount of soil are going to be constant.
I am going to mix 1 gram of SAP in each soil.
Test sample is the mixture of different types of soil and SAP.
- Filter paper was placed in a funnel
- Funnel placed on top of the bottle
- The test sample was placed on the filter paper in the funnel
- 50 ml of water was poured on the sample

The set up was left until no more water was dripping out the funnel.

The amount of water passed through the test sample to the transparent beaker W2 was measured using 100ml measuring cylinder. The amount of water retained by the test sample was calculated as below:
Percentage of water retained = (W1-W2/W2) *100
W1 (ml) is the amount of water added to the sample
W2 (ml) is the amount of water that passed through the test sample.

We know sandy soil has high permeability, Loam - medium and Clay - low permeability.

Clay is supposed to retain less water due to more absorption.

2. I contacted agriculture department near by and they provided me some contacts. Still my mom yet to reach out to them. They said they will provide different soils from land.

3. Sure as you suggested, I will measure salinity of sandy soil as a pre-step to the third sub experiment to make sure we are proceeding in right direction.

4. As you suggested, I will test the effect of SAP on water retention in the short term , before planting tomatoes in sandy soil with no sap, 1, 2 and 3 grams of SAP

5. Usually we grow tomatoes at our home from seed and plant them on ground once they reach certain height. It gives good yield . That is where I got this idea of planting tomatoes.
I am planning to put seeds this week or next in my greenhouse. Usually i will see growth in 2 weeks and from there i will transfer to big pot and leave it for 3 weeks to check on the growth.

These are my ideas. Please suggest if any changes.

Thanks so much for your time.
Lakshita.

[SciB]

Thanks for the clarification, Lakshita. I guess what I did not understand was your statement that the permeability of the soil affects the water-holding capacity of the SAP. I can see that the different soils themselves can hold different amounts of water but why would this change the water-holding ability of SAP? That should be constant except for salinity which reduces it. Did you mean that the 50 ml of water you added to the sandy soil would pass through so quickly that the SAP would not have time to absorb it? What if you put the soil plus SAP in an beaker, added 50 ml of rainwater and let it stand for 15 mins before filtering?

I think that you do need to test the water-holding capacity of each type of soil without SAP. Then, when you mix SAP with the soil and test it again, you will be able to subtract off the water retention of the soil itself so that you are measuring only the water held by SAP.

Your experiments are aimed at farmers in a real-world situation. That is why I am trying to set up the experiments in a way that mimics the actual conditions. I don't know if putting the soil on filter paper and letting water drain through it immediately is the best way to test how well the SAP improves the water-holding capacity. What do you think?

Wow! You are lucky to have a greenhouse to use. That makes it so much easier to do plant growth experiments.

Good luck with your new school year. Let me know how it goes.

All the best,
Sybee

[deleted-373171]

Hi Mr.Sybee,

Thanks for your ideas.

For my second sub-experiment, I wanted to test the water absorption capacity of SAP when put in different soils. What you said was what I was thinking. Since soils with higher permeability, high water drainage, and low water retention (sandy soils) give less time for SAP particles to absorb water, the water holding capacity of SAP in sandy soils will be smaller. In this way, the permeability affects the water holding capacity.

As you suggested, I will test for the permeability of the soil by testing the water holding capacity of the soil without SAP. This I will do by the funnel filtration method. This way we can be sure Sandy soil has high permeability.

Then as you suggested , I am planning to put soil + SAP in a beaker, put 50 ml of rain water and allow to stand for 15 minutes and then test the water absorption capacity by measuring the filtering the left over water into a measuring cylinder. I will find the water retention percentage using (W2-W1/W1) *100 formula. W1 is 50 ml, W2 is the left over water

Hope third experiment should be fine right? Using sandy soil with different measurements of SAP quantity and growing tomato plants.

Yes green house again this year Last year my mom got me green house for my project where I grew Lima beans, and this year will be growing tomato.

Thanks so much for your time. I will keep you posted on how school is when it starts back up. Stay safe.
lakshita

[SciB]

OK, now it is clear to me that is what you were thinking too. I'm just trying to anticipate any questions from the judges. They are always impressed when you can answer them with actual data to back up your statements. That's what makes science so great. You gradually build up a story from the experiments you do, and when you write one chapter it suggests the next and soon you have a whole narrative that makes sense, is statistically supported and allows you to dream up new experiments. And hopefully along the way, you will come up with some wonderful new information nobody has found before.

Please say Hi to your mom for me and tell her I am really proud of you and glad that she is helping you with the resources to do these interesting experiments. I hope you always get the same joy and satisfaction I feel in learning about new things and setting up experiments to test them.

Stay safe and let me know what you think about school after you go back this month. Hopefully we will have turned the corner, and when a safe and effective vaccine becomes available, the year 2020 will slip into the record books and life can return to normal.

Best wishes,

Sybee

[deleted-373171]

Hi Mr.Sybee,

I am so happy that we finally figured out what and how we are going to do our experiments. Now it is my turn to do and let you know what I find.
Also for my honor's competition, they are expecting to submit the research paper prior for getting approval. I will also work on that write up. As last year, can you please review and help me with the write up, and making corrections. That was really very helpful for me last year. Thanks so much for your time.
Yes I will definitely convey my mom. She will be really happy. Of course, daily she asks me for the updates from you and where I am . Today she ordered couple of items needed for my experiment from amazon - funnel and pots.
She finally spoke with agricultural guy for my soils. They said they will help me with that. They are going to mine those soils and give it to me. Will keep you posted on the updates and will take pictures and send you.
Yes science is always fun for me. I got my school schedule today. I have to be in school for couple of hours one in the morning and one in the afternoon. My parents has to drop and pick me for these hours which is going to be tedious. I didn't even get back to back hours. one at 8 am and one at 1 pm
Hope we all will be able to manage and as you said hope to get the vaccines soon so we will have good 2021.

Thanks and Stay safe.
Lakshita

[SciB]

We make a good team, Lakshita, and I'm glad to help you do your best and learn more awesome science. The more you know about Nature the more you can enjoy her beauties and fascination.

That's too bad your courses couldn't be together. I hope your school is close to home.

Wow, that's great that the ag service guys are going to get some soil for you. I was hoping that they would get interested in your project enough to do that because they are the ones who know about soils from helping farmers. You may even get a request from an organic grower to supply them with orancado soil amendment. You could set up in a part of the kitchen and make pounds of natural SAP and sell it for lots of money--just kidding. You need to concentrate on your studies and learn as much as you can to get the best grades on exams and papers.

As soon as your write-up is finished, send it to me and I will edit it and make suggestions to improve the writing. I am a native English speaker and a professional editor, so it is easy for me to correct grammar errors and make the best word choices and the clearest sentences. Writing with the reader in mind is a good way to make sure that you understand your subject perfectly so that you can explain it in clear, simple terms. Also, try to find some good recent references that you can include related to soil amendments for improving water retention.

One thing we don't know is how long the orancado addition lasts in soil. Since your product is made of natural ingredients, I am betting that the soil bacteria and fungi are going to think it quite delicious. I have to add compost to my garden every spring along with all the organic matter in the mulch which continually breaks down and adds nutrients and fiber to the soil. My robins love the garden as the worms are really plentiful and tasty!

You can post every day and ask questions and tell me what is going on with the project--also send pix of the soils and your jar test results. I'm sure the ag people would also be interested to see just how much of each ingredient is in each of the soils they give you. This is really fun! I am so glad you chose such an interesting and useful project.

Stay safe,
Sybee

[SciB]

Hi Lakshita,

It has been over a week since I last had a message from you and I was wondering how you are doing. I'm sure you are very busy now that school has started. How is it working out? Is everyone being careful and following the rules? I know it is inconvenient and difficult to keep distance between you and your friends, but until we get a really quick and accurate infection test it is a whole lot safer.

Did you get any soil samples yet? I'm really curious to see the results of the jar test for soil composition.

I am always here to answer any and all questions you might have or just to listen to your ideas. I consider myself one of your online teachers, so you should check in once in a while and give me an update.

All the best,
Sybee

[deleted-373171]

Hi Mr.Sybee,

How are you doing. Sorry I missed your previous messages. As you mentioned, I got really stressed out for the past 2 weeks. Since I have to go couple of hours one in the morning and one in the afternoon , luckily my parents are dropping me , staying at school and picking me up. It is 15 mins drive from my home so there is no point if they come back home after dropping me. I was really thinking about science project but didn't have time to do any thing for the past 2 weeks. Teachers were not assigned first week for virtual classes and now they assigned with all make up work which is really hectic . Also there are no zoom classes scheduled and we have to study what they post and do our homework. It took me a while to come on their schedule. Hope I will be able to manage everything. I have also started taking ACT prep course.

I was so sad that I didn't do much on our science project. This week I am planning to make up for what I missed. Good news I received soil samples free of cost shipped from Soils plus, California. My mom asked them to accept atleast shipping charges but they were curious that I am doing science project with their soil samples so they gave free of cost

I will take picture of the soil samples and will send you. Also will send u Jar experiment results. My mom also found clay soil near by and got for me. Now my job is to do experiment with these samples.

St.Louis science fair coordinator emailed me this week that they are yet to decide how to conduct the science fair competition this year. Mostly it would be virtual I guess. Also she mentioned none of the papers are due yet for pre-approval but dates will be released soon. I will keep you posted. I have to prepare write up for that what we are going to do. It is just for pre-approval. But it is kind of research paper they are expecting.

Again sorry for not writing to you. It is my bad. Atleast I should have informed you on my schedule. I will make sure this doesn't happen in future.

Hope things are ok at your place. Here numbers are still worse and my parents are still wfh.

Stay safe
Thanks,
Lakshita

[SciB]

Hi Lakshita,

I am happy to hear that you have started the school year OK and are making it work--with the help of your parents and friends. You and the other students are part of a sort of experiment in alternative education and nobody knows how this is going to turn out. In one way it is good, I think, because it makes you be more proactive and shows you that learning is a personal thing and not dependent on going to school. I work from home and have friends and colleagues in India, China, UAE, Brazil and many other countries. I teach them things and I learn from them and we all feel connected as a group of truth-seekers using science to solve problems in our world.

I was very pleased to hear that the soil people that you contacted were interested in your project. That's a perfect example of what being proactive can do for you. As I do, you can find collaborators all over the world especially for an important project like improving soil for crops. Climate change is hurting many people as rainfall patterns change and anything that can improve the water holding capacity of farm land is a blessing in some areas.

Do you write in your journal every day? I try to and I wish i had started doing it more when I was younger. I was thinking about when I was a teenager and trying to remember some of the things that happened, but most of it was a blank. It is a little sad to think about all those years gone with no recollection of the events that were important then. So, even if you just take 5 minutes a couple of times a day to make some notes, that will be a connection that you will appreciate years from now.

Do keep me posted on the progress of your project. Soil science is a very interesting and useful area, but the purpose of the science fairs is to give you firsthand experience in using the scientific method. That's where I can help you in planning experiments and performing them in the best way with statistical tests and proper controls. If you have write-ups that you want me to check, you can upload them here. I want to hear your ideas and questions so I can best help you along your new education path.

All best wishes and hopes for a return to normal life in 2021,

Sybee

[deleted-920791]

Hi Lakshita,

My name is Alex and I'm a science teacher in a german college. I've heard about Kiara Nirghin project and I would like to do it with my students in order to mix science and environmental awareness.
First of all congratulations for your project ! You're a brilliant student and you're doing a great job !

I have few questions for you, and I would be grateful if you could find time to respond. I saw that Kiara, at the end of her procedure use a part of the sun-dried peels (20g) to add with the orange peel powder dried in the oven (40g). And this is why the orange peel powder became the orange peel mixture. I read your procedure but I don't see this step in it. Do you delete this step in your procedure or do you only forget to write it ?

Thank you for your time, Lakshita.

All the best,
Alex.

[deleted-373171]

Hi Mr.Sybee,

Thanks so much for your support. I haven't started my writing yet. I am planning to start once all the 3 procedural experiments are started, so I will get better idea to write my notes.

Yes as you mentioned, I too sometimes write journal and it is incomplete . I will update as and when I feel. But as you suggested, I will see if I can write atleast some important notes for future memories.

I have completed my 1st experiment testing SAP absorption with different types of water. I did 3 trials, and below are the average values for your validation. Can you please check if the values looks good so I can be done with my 1st experiment. This weekend I am planning to do jar experiment. I will also take pictures of soil samples and will send you. Hope Jar experiments works good. I will post for any clarifications I have during the experiment.

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Thanks for your time and stay safe.
Lakshita

[deleted-373171]

Hi Mr.Alex,

I am glad you are doing the same experiment. Hope it works well for you.

Regarding my experiment, I have not copied exactly what Kiara did. I just took the idea of what she made and made lot of changes to it with help of Mr.Sybee. He helped me a lot to get through this successfully.

As you mentioned, in my experiment orange/avocado peel powder is sundried and orange/avocado peel mixture is oven dried. Sundried orange and avocado peels were crushed in blender and this was taken as orange/avocado peel powder which is 1 SAP. Next I added strained liquid (got from cooked orange/avocado peels + lemon juice mixture) to the sun dried peels and the combined mixture was oven dried and crushed. This was my second SAP which was orange?avocado peel mixture.

Thanks for reaching out to me.
Lakshita

[deleted-920791]

Hi Lakshita,

Thank you for all these explanations. It seems that Mr.Sybee and you are a great team!
I will update my procedure and I hope I could do it with my students as soon as possible.

Thank you for your time,
Alex.

[deleted-373171]

Hi Mr.Sybee,

How are you. Hope you are doing good. Not sure if you saw my previous post on experiment 1 values. Can you please check when you are available and confirm if the values are correct.

As the first quarter end date is approaching in 2 weeks, things are getting really hectic in school. As you are aware, we started couple of weeks later compared to in-person students as teachers were not allocated. So the assignments were lagging and now everything needs to be completed by oct 21. My mom spoke with school counsellor. Hope she gives some grace time for virtual students. Keeping my fingers crossed.

That is why my project is getting delayed. I will post my next finding on the experiment this week. Meanwhile can you also please check on experiment 1 values.

Thanks and Stay safe,
Lakshita

[SciB]

Hi Lakshita,

Sorry I missed your post with the SAP values. I read Alex's posts and didn't see yours.

The values look great. The brackish water really decreases the absorption a lot. I am a little surprised at the large difference between rainwater and tap water. Do you have a water purification system on your water supply? That can add ions to the water and increase the salinity.

Good luck with your schoolwork. I know it has to be tough and stressful with all the different subjects you have to take and the deadlines quickly approaching, but I know you can do it. I wish I could help more but your Mom is always taking care of you so I know you will be OK.

Do let me know when you have the results from your next experiment. I am really curious to know how the composition of your soils affects the SAP water absorption.

Be happy, be healthy and stay safe,

Sybee

[deleted-373171]

Hi Mr.Sybee,

How are you. I am so happy to see your email and glad that my values looks good. Tap water I am not sure. We are living in individual home community. We don't have any for our own. But not sure if that is something community takes care. I asked my mom. She is even not sure.

I am little relieved from my school stress. There has been huge discussion last week. My mom spoke with school counsellor and principal to let them know practically completing all assignments before 1st quarter due date is not possible. Virtual students started late and for first 2 weeks teachers were not allocated. Thank god our principal spoke with all launch teachers and moved semester date from Dec 22nd to Jan 15th for virtual students which leaves us room to complete all our assignments at our own pace. No late assignments counted. That is really nice.

I started with my soil test last week. I will post you my results soon.

Stay safe and thanks so much for your time.
Lakshita