Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi Lakshita,

I'm happy to hear that the school administrators finally changed your deadlines, so less pressure for you. Your Mom is the greatest! Having parents and friends who sincerely want to see you succeed and be the best you can is a big plus, especially now with all the uncertainty about how much to open up and when. The news is so depressing sometimes that i just have to go outside and work in the garden--planting and weeding is great therapy!

Do keep in touch and upload your next set of results with pix of the soils so I can see what they look like.

All the best to you and your family,

Sybee

Hi, Lakshita and Mr. Sybee!

I am an incoming Grade 11 student here in the Philippines, and I am trying to conduct a research study influenced by Kiara Nirghin's development of Super absorbent polymer using Orange and Avocado peels. But, in our study we are trying to change the variables ---- Orange and Avocado peels to Calamansi and Mung Bean wastes which are way more abundant and accessible in our country. I am not yet sure if Mung Bean is an effective replacement for Avocado peels since I haven't completely understood the concept of emulsion and emulsion polymerization, can I ask for suggestions and if ever there is any way that you could explain to me how does this worked and how did you fully understood this concept in your study?

I've been reading your study, and I saw that its about comparing the different commercialized SAP's to your organic SAP, and testing their water-absorption ability and water-holding capacity and its effect on soil. While our study is mainly about the development of a new organic absorbent polymer using Mung Bean and Calamansi peels.

Thank you for your time,
Reynel

Hi Mr.Sybee,

How are you and your family. Sorry I couldn't concentrate much on science fair since I was preparing for my PSAT. Also last week I fell down on hard floor and got fracture on my fingers and some problem near growth plate. Thank god no surgery needed. I am on cast for 3 weeks now. It is really painful and tough to manage while typing.

Yesterday only our science fair coordinator confirmed on the dates for this year. This year it is going to be totally different and everything is virtual. Final date is on March 6th. Now I have to really speed up my experiment and write up.

Good that we finalized all the steps we need to do during summer.

I completed my first sub-experiment (which is water absorption capacity of SAP in various sources of water.

Also I completed my pre-steps needed for my second sub-experiment:

- Performed Jar test to find soil texture (sand vs loam vs clay). Everything coming so perfectly. I didn't have time to put in soil texture triangle chart still. I will put that and share with you. I am so happy I found perfect soil texture for my experiment.

- Also performed test for the permeability of the soil by testing the water holding capacity of the soil without SAP by the funnel filtration method. This way to be sure Sandy soil has high permeability.

Now I have to do the actual second sub-experiment which is

“If the permeability of the soil is higher, then the absorption capacity of the SAP will be lower”.
- Compare 3 types of soil (Sand vs Loam vs Clay).
- 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.
- 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.

- I am planning to put soil + 1 gram 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 (W1-W2/W2) *100 formula. W1 is 50 ml, W2 is the left over water

Percentage of water retained = (W1-W2/W1) *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.

Will be in touch. Please confirm on the formula for water retention percentage.

How are covid cases in your area. Here it is really high. Please stay safe.

Thanks,
Lakshita

Hi Lakshita,

Sorry to hear about your fall, but glad you are OK.

Virus cases up here in Maine are still low compared to other states, but have been increasing--maybe because of the cold weather. I read some good news about a vaccine from Pfizer that appeared to be 90% effective in protecting people from serious illness from covid19. Some vaccines can make the immune response more severe, however, so I am still hesitant about getting vaccinated. The Pfizer vaccine needs to be tested on people who may become infected a second time to see what happens then.

I'm glad your experiments are working out well. That always makes me feel confident that the results will be worthwhile. Your formula for absorbed water is correct. Let me know the results when you have them graphed.

I'm sure you did well on the PSAT. You are a great student and I am proud to be helping you along the road to success. I hope we can continue the collaboration.

Here's hoping for happier days in 2021. I think everyone will be celebrating the end of this dreadful year on New Year's Eve. And now with a new president who takes the virus seriously and believes in the power of science, I am very confident that next year will see a return to more normal living.

Stay happy,

Sybee

Hi Mr.Sybee,

Thanks for your wishes. Sure I will put together graph and values for second experiment and send you in a week's time. Thanks for confirming on that formula.

Since I am sophomore, I took PSAT as much as I can. I missed couple of questions in Reading. But I am preparing hard for my ACT and also I have option for PSAT in Junior.

Yes, I am also waiting for our new president take up the full power soon. Hope the transition happens smoothly. I just went through the virtual rules for the project presentations. Few things are confusing. I am planning to ask for a zoom call with science fair co-ordinator for my clarifications. I will keep you posted.

I am also planning to start my write up ASAP and get it corrected from you as we have done last year. I am really so glad I have you as my mentor.

Thanks,
Lakshita

Hi Mr.Sybee,

I started writing the project write-up. To start with below is my project title and graph titles. Can you please look into it and provide your suggestions.

Effect on the Water Absorption Rate of Biodegradable Superabsorbent Polymers made from Orange and Avocado peels under real-time Agricultural Environments
(The Average Fold Change of the Water Absorption Capacity of Orange/Avocado peel mixture SAP in various sources of water)
(The Average Water Absorption capacity of Orange/Avocado peel mixture SAP in 15 minutes for various textures of soil)
(The Average Plant Growth in 21 days for different amounts of Orange/Avocado peel mixture SAP mixed in highly permeable soil)

For your information our previous project title is as below:

Will Biodegradable Superabsorbent Polymers made from Orange and Avocado peels help combat Drought in Agriculture?
(The Average Fold Change of the Water Absorption Capacity for various Superabsorbent Polymers)
(The Average Soil Moisture Retention of various Superabsorbent Polymers in 21 days)
(The Average Plant Growth with various Superabsorbent Polymers in 21 days)

Can you also please let me know if project title should always be put in question format?


Thanks,
Lakshita

Hi Lakshita,

Always happy to hear from you. My first impression of the paper's title is that it's too long. As an editor, I am often told by journals to make titles of research papers shorter and easier to understand quickly.

How about this?

"Test of biodegradable water-retaining soil amendment made from orange and avocado peels under real-time agricultural conditions."

It's only two words shorter, but I think it packs in more info for the reader by using the terms 'water-retaining' and 'soil amendment'. And, no, there's no requirement that a science fair project title needs to be a question. A statement is often more helpful to the reader.

With regard to your figure titles, here are my suggestions:

Effect of salinity on water absorption of orange/avocado peel mixture.
Effect of soil type on water absorption of orange/avocado peel mixture.
Plant growth in highly permeable soil amended with increasing amounts of orange/avocado peel mixture.

Note that the title should be followed by a brief description of the experiment done, what was measured and the conclusion. In the shorter titles, I try to give the reader the key information right at the beginning--effect of salinity, effect of soil type and effect on plant growth.

You are making excellent progress and I am glad you like my help. I am pleased to be a part of your education by giving you whatever guidance I can and answering any and all questions.

Stay safe and plan well,

Sybee

Hi Mr.Sybee,

How are you doing. Thanks so much for your help. That really helps. I understand what you are saying. Seriously without your guidance I will not be able to take this further. Based on your suggestions, I modified a little further. Can you please take a look and correct if anything seems wrong. Also I wrote variables. Since we have 3 sub-experiments, I have put 3 IVs and 3 DVs. Please provide your suggestions.

TITLE

"Evaluation of a Biodegradable Water-Retaining Soil Amendment made from Orange and Avocado peels under Real-Time Agricultural Conditions."

The Effect of different Water Salinity Concentrations on the Water Absorption of Orange and Avocado peel mixture
The Effect of different Soil Types with various Permeability Levels on the Water Absorption of Orange and Avocado peel mixture
The Effect of increasing amounts of Orange and Avocado peel mixture amended in highly permeable soil on Plant Growth

VARIABLES

Independent Variables:

Sub-Experiment 1: Water Salinity Concentrations from different sources of water (Rain Water, Tap Water, River Water, and Brackish Water)

Sub-Experiment 2: Soil Types of varied Permeability Levels (Sand, Loam, and Clay)

Sub-Experiment 3: Amount of Orange and Avocado peel mixture

Dependent Variables:

Sub-Experiment 1: The Average Fold Change of the Water Absorption Capacity of Orange and Avocado peel mixture

Sub-Experiment 2: The Average Percentage of the Water Retention of Orange and Avocado peel mixture

Sub-Experiment 3: The Average Plant Growth (in Centimeters) in 21 days

Constants:

Environmental location, type of orange, avocado and lemon juice (organic), type of SAP (Orange and Avocado peel mixture), amount of SAP (1 gram) for sub-experiments 1 & 2, type of water (Rain Water) for sub-experiments 2 & 3, type of Soil (Sand) for sub-experiment 3, type and size of pots used (Jiffy Pots 5 inches), amount of soil (50 grams) for sub-experiments 2 &3, type of seeds used (Ferry-Morse Lima Beans)

Control Group:

Sub-Experiment1: Rain Water (Water Salinity of 0 parts per million (ppm))
Sub-Experiment2: N/A
Sub-Experiment3: Sandy soil with no Superabsorbent Polymer added

Today is Diwali Celebrations for us. It went well, and we were able to enjoy at home in this Covid time. Usually we will fire some small fireworks but this time it was raining since morning and so I was not able to do that. But overall it was good. It is like Christmas for us

Thanks and Stay safe.
Lakshita

Hi Lakshita,

Happy Diwali! It’s not as nice in virtual mode I’m sure, but you know everyone is celebrating anyway and thinking about next year’s festival when, hopefully, the covid cases will have dropped to zero.

For your titles, I would recommend, as most scientific journals do, that you capitalize only the first word of the title. The alternative is to capitalize all words except minor ones. Your titles now are sort of a hybrid where you capitalized some words but not others and that is not formally correct. It is just easier to use only initial capitals, as you do for a sentence. The reader will know which parts of the text are titles by where they are placed.

Also, it is best to make titles as short as possible, so omit the word ‘the’.

It would be helpful if you could use an abbreviation for ‘orange and avocado peel’ since it occurs so many times in your text. Scientists commonly use acronyms that are the first letters of the major words, so you could call it ‘OAP mixture’. Once you define what OAP means, the reader will know. It will also make your titles shorter.

Put space between Sub-experiment and number: “Sub-experiment 1”

That’s all my edits. Now I want to see some more data!

How are you doing with school in general? Is it still a hybrid of virtual and in-class or has the surge closed the classroom. We are up in Maine now at our old farmhouse and far away from the cities on the seacoast in an old fishing town. The Canadian border is still closed to travel from the U.S. so we can’t go into New Brunswick to visit friends. It has worked for them, however, because they are recording no new cases in most areas.

Stay safe, stay well and stay happy!

Sybee

Hi Mr.Sybee,
Hope you are doing good. I am so excited to see your post on your own farm house. I love it . Regarding my school, yes still it is hybrid and going in for couple of classes. Since I got finger fracture, I got exemption from orchestra and going for that class only once a week. Next week is my appointment. I am getting better.

I saw all your comments. Really it was helpful and I learned new things on capitalization. I did some research too on that I modified all based on your comments.

Can you please check on my below Hypothesis and provide your suggestions:

If water salinity concentrations from different sources of water (rain water, tap water, river water, and brackish water), soil types of varied permeability levels (sand, loam, and clay), and different amounts of OAP mixture are compared for water absorption capacity and plant growth, then the amount of water absorbed for rain water, the water retention percentage of clay soil, and the plant growth in 21 days for 2 grams of OAP mixture would be significantly higher.

Also find below my clarifications:
1. For our first experiment where we check water absorption in various sources of water with different salinity levels, I have considered Rain water as control group.

Salinity in rain water is 0. Though it is considered as control group, we are still comparing rain water also as one of the source right?
So in our experiment we can say amount of water absorbed for rain water is greatest. Am I correct? Guess we cannot ignore rain water for testing as we are testing real time agricultural conditions. Please suggest

2. Usually in science fair experiments, where do they put abbreviations. Because as you suggested if I am using OAP mixture in my write up to avoid lengthy repetitions, where should I first state.

Thanks again for your help. I will keep posting write up and data as I progress. I am currently concentrating on write up because we should submit the write up for pre-approval since I am going for Honors this year. Date still not announced.

Thanks,
Lakhsita

Hi Mr.Sybee,

How are you. Hope you are doing good. I am just wondering since you haven't replied to my last post. Can you please look into my previous questions so I can post my next clarification. Happy Thanks giving.

Thanks and stay safe.
Lakshita

Hi Lakshita,

Sorry I missed your previous post somehow. I hope you and your family had a joyful Thanksgiving. We just had a couple of close friends visiting. Not as much fun as usual, but hopefully next year will be better.

I read your hypothesis and it seems too long for the reader to follow. I think it needs to be split up into separate hypotheses to make it easier to understand. The salinity effects, the soil permeability and the proportion of SAP to soil are three separate independent variables and should each be tested separately as part of one hypothesis. You could write them something like this:

1. For a given soil type and amount of SAP, the water retention decreases as salinity increases.
Control variables: soil type, proportion of SAP to soil. Independent variable: salinity of water. Dependent variable: water retention

2. The water retention of clay soil is greater than that of loam, which is greater than sand.
Control variables: type and amount of water (rain), proportion of SAP to soil. Independent variable: soil type. Dependent variable: water retention.

3. There is an optimal proportion of SAP to soil of different types for plant growth.
Control variables: type and amount of water (rain). Independent variables: (a) soil type (sand, loam, clay); (b) proportion of SAP to soil. Dependent variable: plant height after a certain period of time

I’m not sure that my experimental design matches what you had decided to do, so think about it and decide on what you think is the best plan. I am trying to make the experiments clear to the viewer so it is easy for them to identify which variable is being tested in which experiment.

With regard to your clarifications:

1. I would have expected distilled water to have the lowest salinity and the highest water absorption, but you found that rainwater was highest. The judges will surely ask you why rainwater showed higher water retention. Here is where you need statistics. You should take 3-5 samples of rainwater and 3-5 samples of distilled water and test them again for absorption by a measured amount of SAP. After you get the data, you can average the readings, find the standard deviation and do a Student’s t test to compare the means. The results of this test will allow you to say with 95% confidence that rainwater is or is not better than distilled water at being absorbed by SAP. The same test should be applied to the salinity readings. Maybe the ‘distilled’ water is not as pure as you are meant to think.

Whichever water has the consistently lowest salinity should be the control. If you had some ultrapure water, you could use that as a control to test the rainwater. You could get ultrapure water from a lab that has a device to make it, or buy it, but it is expensive.

2. Abbreviations are defined in your write-up the first time they are used. You could make a section entitled “Abbreviations”, but you don’t really have enough to make this necessary.

I hope I have answered all your questions and I promise i will be more diligent in checking for your messages. I want you to be a winner this time too!

All the best,
Sybee

Hi, Lakshita and Mr. Sybee!

I am an incoming Grade 11 student here in the Philippines, and I am trying to conduct a research study influenced by Kiara Nirghin's development of Super absorbent polymer using Orange and Avocado peels. But, in our study we are trying to change the variables ---- Orange and Avocado peels to Calamansi and Mung Bean wastes which are way more abundant and accessible in our country. But when we tried developing our own SAP, the powder only absorbs water but doesn't actually become a gel. We are guessing (for now) that the Mung bean is the problem which is a substitute for avocado peels. I am trying to ask, if you could give us some suggestions to why our developed SAP doesn't really do what its supposed to.


Thank you for your time,
Reynel

Hi Reynel,

Glad that you are trying to this project with different variables. I suggest you to open a separate chain for help so Mr.Sybee or other instructor would help you. All the best for your project.

Thanks,
Lakshita

Hi Mr.Sybee,

Hope you are doing good. I am happy you had mini thanks giving this year . Here lot of my close friends and their family got Covid which is really scary. Also my 3 neighbors entire family got covid. One next to my home too . Hopefully by god's grace we are safe as of today. Also my finger is getting recovered. Doctor said still crack is there and it will be another 3 weeks. But it is healing. I am working hard the past 2 weeks for my assignments as my semester end date is approaching and I have to submit all of them before due date so I will not lose my grade. Virtual is getting really hard for me.

Thanks so much for all your clarifications. Based on your suggestion for hypothesis I did confirm with my science fair coordinator too. She suggested the below:

Write one null hypothesis ( the independent variable has no effect on the dependent variable), then write three hypothesis to predict what will actually happen.

Can you please guide me on null hypothesis. I don't know this term. I did some research but cant really understand perfectly.

Thanks again for your time. Once I get your suggestion, I will modify my hypothesis and will send you. Also as you suggested, I will use distilled water as control group for my first experiment.

Thanks and Stay safe,
Lakshita

Hi Lakshita,

I'm sorry to hear of so many covid cases around where you live. Our family have been staying home mostly as the number of cases is starting to increase in Maine as it is everywhere in the U.S. I hope it is just that people weren't taking adequate precautions and are now suffering the consequences. I don't want to think that the virus has mutated into something more virulent.

I'm glad that your finger is healing well. That must have really hurt.

This year seems to be flying away really fast now. I think it is because so many people are praying for it to end and a vaccine to be available to make everything ok again. Well, I'm afraid its going to be a longer process than people would like, but it is going to get better.

The null hypothesis is a statement just like any hypothesis except that what it says is that there is NO difference between the control and the experimental measurements. Put another way, it means that null hypothesis says that any apparent difference in the dependent variable resulting from the independent variable is a result of chance. The null hypothesis is tested statistically in the same way as the other hypotheses, using the Student's t test or analysis of variance to compare two means.

Does this make it easier to understand now? Tell me if you have a question. I need to know how you see it so I can know how better to explain concepts like this. As often happens in math and science, it takes a period of time working with the concept, using it and seeing for yourself how it works before it really makes sense.

Rewrite your hypotheses separately and then let me see them so I can think about whether we are approaching the experiments correctly. I try to view the experimental design from the judges point of view because most of them are researchers or at least science majors. I know they always try to find any flaws in your reasoning--not to be mean--just because that is how science works. We want the truth, not just evidence that supports someone's favorite theory. As a scientist, you have to be prepared to modify your conclusions when better data becomes available.

Stay safe and be well. I know your parents take good care of you. It is so hard because we humans are a naturally gregarious and happy species and it is very hard to stay 'distant'. I so much miss seeing people's smiles. Eyes can be sort of expressive, but you really have to see the whole face to communicate well. I hear a person laughing but I can't see it with the mask on.

All the best,
Sybee

Hi Mr.Sybee,

How are you doing. This year due to virtual challenges, I am sad, I am not able to concentrate much on science fair. But I am confident I will make it fast after Jan 15th which is my semester end. I am rushing now to finish my assignments and preparing for my semester.
- But good news is that I have grown lima bean plants and it sprouted .
- Also completed my first experiment (salinity experiment) with distilled water as you suggested. Since I am going to use distilled water as my control.
- But in subsequent experiments, will be using rain water to test as we are using real time agriculture conditions.

I am squeezing myself to do science fair as and when I get time. Now the biggest thing is writing and putting all my photos together, graphing etc which I need to do after Jan 15th.

I guess I understand somewhat on null hypothesis. Can you please guide me how to write null hypothesis for our experiment so I will understand better. we have not been taught how to write null hypothesis.

I will also keep you posted as I progress. Hope you have wonderful holidays. Wishing you and your family Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2021.

If you don't mind, can you please share with me your address. I would like to send small Christmas/new year gift to you as an appreciation for you working with me for the past couple of years. So please let me know.

Thanks again for all the help
Lakshita

Hi Lakshita,

I know you must be stressed from the lack of contact and all the restrictions and difficulties this year has brought us. I know that I am. You will always have my support in whatever way I can help, but I am 100% confident in your ability. Everyone has doubts about whether they can accomplish a goal, but remember that every big success is made up of a lot of little successes and you have shown that you can build a project one step at a time. It may seem daunting at first, but perseverance will win out.

Don't worry too much about the null hypothesis. To me it is more like a formality than a practical part of the research. Just think of it as the reverse of what you expect to find in your positive hypotheses. It all comes down to statistical tests that give you the confidence to be 95% certain that your results support your hypothesis and are not simply due to chance (the null hypothesis). As with the COVID-19 vaccine trials just published, Pfizer reported their vaccine was 94% effective, which allowed them to be very confident in saying that vaccinated people were less likely to get the disease. This protection was not due to chance--it was a direct result of the injections. And their sample number was huge--10s of thousands of people--so the statistics were very strong.

I'm glad you are keeping up with writing about your findings as you should make that a habit. Don't trust to memory. Write down all the details and always date your entries in your lab book so if you have to back-track to prove something, you will be able to say exactly when it was done.

I hope you and your family have a happy holiday time. We are just staying around home and visiting neighbors--carefully! It is a relief that people are finally getting the CoV2 vaccine, but it will take months before it begins to make a difference in the rate of infection, so we have to keep wearing masks and avoiding crowds.

It is sweet of you to want to send me a gift, although certainly not necessary as your success is what makes me happy. If you want to send me a New Year's card you can communicate with me through my work platform on LinkedIn.

Be safe, be well and be happy,

Sybee

Hi Mr.Sybee,

How are you. Hope you had wonderful Christmas. Actually my bday was on 24th Dec. This time my mom gave me surprise party coordinating my friends over zoom. Also she arranged party decorations so well. I loved it Something different this time.

Yes I understood about Null hypothesis. So I guess we need not write that as part of our project notes right? Usually we don't write null hypothesis for any of my previous science fair. I will modify my hypothesis (write 3 different hypothesis for 3 sub-experiments separately) and will share with you. Also I am almost done writing my Rationale too. Both I will share tomorrow.

Thanks so much for your encouraging words. That meant lot to me. Yes I will work hard to complete everything on time. This is the first time I am struggling this much in school..

I am not on LinkedIn platform still . I wish I could send you something for this New Year. I just have Instagram and FB account

We are also trying to be safe as much possible.

Thanks and Stay safe
Lakshita

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Lakshita!!

A virtual party is still fun with all your friends. They don't have to wear a mask to use Zoom so you can see them smiling and laughing. I really miss that. Eyes are very nice, but I still need to see the whole face to feel connected.

You can join Linked In any time--it's free to register. Then you can begin making connections with people who share your interests and goals. I'm on Facebook too, but I actually use LinkedIn for work.

Send me your write-ups as soon as they are ready and I will read them over and make suggestions.

We had some snow again overnight and the temperature now is 21F. The winter solstice is past and the daylight is increasing a few minutes every day. That's good because here in northern Maine it starts getting dark about 3:30. That's still not as bad as for people who live north of the Arctic Circle where the sun hardly gets above the horizon in winter. I wouldn't like that!

Stay well and treasure every day,

Sybee

Dear Ms. Lakshita and Mr. Sylbee,

I also tried to conduct the experiment of Ms. Kiara Nirghin using both Ms. Kiara and Ms. Lakshita's procedure. According to Ms. Kiara, the peels are supposed to be cooked down for 45 minutes with 100 ml of distilled water. But we noticed that after 5-10 minutes, the water was almost gone. Thus, we kept on adding 100ml of distilled water until the peels were cooked down for 45 minutes. All in all, we used 300ml of distilled water for 3 oranges when it is supposed to be just 100ml. After that, we were able to strain almost 30ml of liquid from the orange mixture. But in Ms. Kiara's procedure, she was able to strain 80 ml of liquid from 100ml of distilled water. I would like to ask about your results in your procedure and were you able to have the same results as Ms. Kiara Nirghin.

Thank you for your time,
Christian

Hi Mr.Sybee,

Thanks so much for your wishes. Hope you had wonderful New Year with your family. Here as usual. I will work on science fair after my finals as I am really in time crunch now to finish off all my assignments and prepare for my finals.

Thanks and Stay safe,
Lakshita

Hi Lakshita,
Yes we had a happy, if quiet celebration of the exit of 2020 and the arrival of 2021. Now we have 362 more days to make this a better year.

Good luck on your finals. Be careful to read and understand the questions and trust your instincts. I remember going back and changing answers, only to find out that my first answer was right! I'm sure that you will do very well as you have a strong desire to learn, and that will stay with you your whole life. I think it is called curiosity and I had a lot of it growing up--still do.

I will be here when you come back to your sci project and I am just waiting to see what your results will show.

Enjoy every day and take time to help others,

Sybee

Hi Mr.Sybee,

How are you. Thanks so much for your encouraging words and I wish you are in St.Louis, so I can meet you in person. Yes still 1 more week to go for semester end. Also I will work on opening Linkedln after my finals

Also registration for Honors competition is open and I have to submit the below write-up for pre-approval. Due date is Jan 20th. So now I am working on it as well.

Title
Abstract
Rationale
Question
Hypothesis
Variables
Bibliography
Procedure

The one's highlighted in green above, we already did and checked by you.

Please check the below write-up for Hypothesis and Rationale and let me know if any changes.

Rationale:
This project is the continuation of my previous project where I investigated whether superabsorbent polymers made from orange and avocado peels were as efficient as synthetic potassium polyacrylate. I chose to look at this question because biodegradable superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) are a highly debated subject and during my previous research it surprised me to see how much global climatic anomalies, drought, and deficient precipitation have occurred across the globe in varying degrees of severity and how that has harmed agriculture, especially in developing countries. In my study, types of superabsorbent polymers (Potassium polyacrylate, orange & avocado peel powder, and orange & avocado peel mixture) are compared for water retention ability, effect on soil moisture, and plant growth, and I concluded that the amount of water absorbed, soil moisture retention in 21 days, and plant growth in 21 days would be significantly higher for the orange and avocado peel mixture.
In this project, I wanted to evaluate the orange and avocado peel mixture SAP under different real time agricultural conditions. There are very little known facts about the performance of SAP in different types of soil and various qualities of water. This experimental study was therefore carried out to evaluate the rate of water absorption by the SAP under different water salinity concentrations, under different soil types with various permeability levels, and how amending increasing amounts of SAP in highly permeable soil affects plant growth.


Hypothesis:

Sub-Experiment 1:
If water salinity concentrations from different sources of water (rain water, tap water, river water, and brackish water) increases, then the average fold change of the water absorption capacity of Orange and Avocado peel mixture decreases.

Sub-Experiment 2:
If soil types of varied permeability levels (sand, loam, and clay) amended with a specific amount of Orange and Avocado peel mixture (1 gram) are compared for water retention, then the average amount of water absorbed for Orange and Avocado peel mixture will be less for soil with higher permeability (sand)

Sub-Experiment 3:

If the amount of Orange and Avocado peel mixture amended in highly permeable soil (sand) increases, then the average plant growth (in Centimeters) in 21 days significantly increases.

I can't thank you enough for your valuable time. I will keep making progress as I find time.

Thanks,
Lakshita

Good work, Lakshita! I'm glad to see you making progress on the science project along with everything else you have to do. I'm here whenever you need me--as your cyber mentor--and I'm real and not a robot.

I will take a look at your write-up tomorrow and send you my suggestions. Let's try to anticipate the judges' questions and be prepared for them. Everything has to fit together tightly--hypotheses, experiments, results, statistics and conclusions--then it makes a beautiful story. I know you can do it.

I will get back to you on Wednesday.

Stay well and enjoy every day,

Sybee

Hi Mr.Sybee,

Thanks so much for your time and yes I am proud of having you as my mentor. Sure take your time. Meanwhile I am started writing procedure. I will send it across once it is done. My plan is to finalize everything I need for pre-approval in another 2 weeks. Yes sure, once we are done with all our experiments and write-up we will come up with the questions that Judges might ask. This time it is going to be different experience as it is virtual. I will also start putting my ideas and you can help me. Final competition date is March 2nd week (Date not finalized still).

Thanks,
Lakshita

That sounds like a good plan, Lakshita. I will get back to you as soon as I can get a break from work. I just got three editing jobs due in a couple of days, so have had zero time.

Good luck with your finals.

Stay happy,

Sybee

Hi there!
My name is Rach, and I'm new to Science Buddies. I'm really fascinated on how you came up with your project. I had a question about your project with the orange peels.
Did the acidity of the orange peels affect the growth of the plant, and if it did how was it affected?
Thanks so much
Rach

Hi Mr.Sybee,

No problem at all. Please take your time. No rush. Thanks so much.

Thanks,
Lakshita

Hi Mr.Sybee,

How are you doing? Hope you are really busy with your editing work. I completed my semester and finals successfully. I got above 95 in all the subjects. I am glad I made it and really it was hard this semester with virtual challenges.
Just wondering if you had chance to look into my write up . Please let me know your suggestions so I can modify and proceed further.

Thanks for your help.
Lakshita