I honestly found this week to be quite boring. I pretty much in the phase of my project where the only thing I can do know is wait. However, I did do something productive this week, and that was write the rough draft of my project Abstract for the EMCC Student Conference. Like I said, it is only the abstract, and I am still going to make some changes to it. I actually email it to Matt, and hopefully he can give me some good feedback.

                Next week, I need to start doing some more research, because I want to do something else for my project. I already have a thing in mind, but I don’t really want to talk about right now, because I am still working on it. In the meantime the only thing to do is be patient…

 

image from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG56wCmzGfGIVSVm-kwSsy5N8MuM1VqfIaLzT0cug4Tklv9pSVof9RyhtTP-V53Oyj-DiXSujMfMA49GibK7ekJElXWJApW2bWNzMs_jMsxWMi2d3tRWPNMnKS8iARtFpGSHTQv6tygkOS/s1600/The_waiting_game_logo.jpg

 

I am very happy because this week I was able to move one with my project. First of all, I had to re-plant half of the pots I had planted weeks ago. The reason for this was that there was no plant growth. I think that the soil I used (obtained from my backyard) was contaminated with something that prevented seed germination. The new soil was obtained from Phoenix College!!
I hope that this time I will have plant growth.

                In addition, today I was able to do my four winogradsky columns, and I hope I never have to do them again!! The smell of the pond muck was horrible, and I still get chills just by remembering it.  However, I am very happy to move on to the next step of my project…….wait. I have to admit that this is not the most exciting part, but I will eventually harvest the fruit of my labor.

The four winogradsky columns

         Unfortunately, this week was very slow, and I didnt have much progress with the second part of my project. The second part was to create four different winogradsky columns with different variables, and bury stripes of plastic.

          A winogradsky column is a very simple device used to grow microorganisms. The winogradsky column can be made using a variety of containers including plastic bottles (which is what I am going to be using). The cointaner is filled with soil containing microorganis. I used pond muck, because it is the best to use for the winogradsky column. The stripes are going to be buried in the pond muck, and hopefully get some decomposition. The variables I will be testing is adding an egg to the pond muck in two of the winograsky columns, and compare the amount of decomposition to the two other  columns without the egg mixture. Eggs are full of the different chemicals such as phosphorous that are needed for microorganism survival.
   
       In addition, another variable will be exposing two of the columns to light, and the other two columns will be covered with aluminium to prevent light exposure. However, I wasnt able to complete the four columns because I didnt have enough pond muck for the three bottles. In addition, the pond muck that I had was too contaminated with rocks and bugs. It took me all day to clean enough pond muck for one single bottle!! 
    
    Fortunetely, a fellow S-STEM scholar advised me to filter the soil using a colender to remove rocks and other contaminants. I hope to get more pond muck by next week, and come up with the best way to filter the pond muck to complete my winogradsky columns!!!

My first winogradsky column

This week it was very slow, because I just sat down most of the week. I already plant my beans and amaranth seeds. Some of them have even germinating successfully, and these were the ones planted using potting soil. I am a little worried, because the other ones planted with regular soil haven’t shown any sign of germination.

Plants pots in incubator

 

In addition, I began gathering all of the materials needed for the second part of my project. I will talk more about that next time. For now, I just have to say that it involves a lot of pond muck and plastic soda bottles.