Reference no: EM133550024

Case Study: Acid rain is formed when the combustion of fossil fuels release gases containing nitrogen and sulfur compounds into the atmosphere.

Scenario: You are an employee of a laboratory. Your boss has sent you the following case:

A company would like to open in their town. The company carries out industrial processes that involve the burning of fossil fuels. The company would like to build their factory on property adjacent to a vegetable farm. The owner of the farm states that the factory would cause acid rain and the subsequent destruction of his crops. The company states that the gases released will have no effect on the farmer's crops. You have been instructed to test the effects of acid rain on the germination of seeds by designing and performing an experiment. Depending the results of your experiment, the town board will decide whether to allow the factory to be built on the property next to the vegetable farm or elsewhere. Your report to the town board should include two hypotheses (null and alternative), experimental design, data table, and conclusion. The plan should mention how you will differentiate between experimental and control groups, as well as independent and dependent variables. Discussion questions:

Questions:

1. Write your conclusions from the experiment.
2. Which hypothesis is supported by this conclusion? Explain.
3. Describe what you would expect would happen to the crops of the farm if the factory was built next to the farm. (Would you expect an increase, decrease or same number of crops produced by the farm? Explain how you arrived to this conclusion based on the results from your experiment)