Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Doing a science fair project on coral reefs. Need to do a research paper and experiment. Was going to do an experiment on live coral and how it reacts in salt water vs fresh and in different types of light. Now discovered this would be much too expensive to purchase all that is required for this type of experiment. Any experiment to recommend for a 6th grader to perform on dried coral or live coral that would not be too expensive or too complex? Appreciate any help, thanks.

Coral would be a really cool topic! Personally, I would not use live coral as it is expensive and difficult to keep. Dead coral is a good idea, though.
One idea that might be interesting is ocean acidification. Due to CO2 from pollution, the oceans are becoming more acidic. The skeletons of coral (and some other marine invertebrates) are made up of something called calcium carbonate, which can dissolve in acid. As you can imagine, this is not good for coral.
There is a project here on the topic, https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ml#summary but it requires a long time frame and is probably a little advanced for most 6th graders. However, it still may be worth reading over as a starting point.
What I would suggest is getting dead coral (you can find some here http://deltonaseashells.com/coral---bar ... eractinia-) or chalk (which is also made up of calcium carbonate) and putting it in either water or diluted vinegar, then measuring the difference in mass after several hours or days. You would probably need a shorter time for chalk or a longer time for dead coral. I would also recommend measuring the pH of the diluted vinegar solution using pH strips or an indicator of some sort. You could maybe even try various pHs to see how much of a difference it makes.
This is just a rough idea, so be sure to ask if you have any more questions or need more guidance. Good luck!
Katie

Thank you so much for the information.

Hi -
I like the idea of chalk - also, do you have access to a beach? Collect sea shells - (the same type) and see the effects on the shells. Just another suggestion.
Good luck!

Hello!
Depending on where you live there are sometimes gift shops or unique trinket shops that have many shells or dead coral for sale. Also, I would recommend checking for some on Amazon.com, as well.
Good luck!
Lily