Air Quality Lab

Collaborators: Cooper, Riordan, Megan

Introduction: The goal of this lab was to test the air quality by measuring how much
ozone or particle matter there is in the air. Ozone and particle matter are pollutants
which are harmful in the air. This lab is important because we need to be able to test the
air and see if it is safe enough to breathe or if we need to change our habits in order to
clean the air up.
Hypothesis: If we measure the ozone levels outside and inside, then the outside ozone
level will be higher.
Parts of the Experiment: Control Group- None
Experimental Group- Index cards the ozone strips
Independent Variable- Time
Dependent Variable- Color and amount of particulate matter
Control Variable- Strips, Index card, Strings
Materials:
Potassium Iodide
Corn starch
Beakers
Spatulas
Large Graduated Cylinder
Test Tube Rack
Filter Paper
Microscope slides
Petroleum Jelly
Q-tips
Microscopes
Methods: 1. Half the class should work on preparing the ozone monitoring test strips by
placing
100ml of water in a 250 ml beaker, and adding 5g of cornstarch. Then heat and stir the
mixture until it gels (when the mixture becomes thick and clear). Remove the solution
from heat, add 1 g of potassium iodide, stir well, and allow to cool. After the solution
has cooled, lay a piece of filter paper on a petri and brush the paste onto the filter
paper. Turn the filter paper and brush the paste on the other side. Hang up and allow
the filter paper to dry. Cut the papers into 1 inch-wide strips. Store the strips in a plastic
bag out of sunlight.
2. The other half of the class will prepare Particulate matter collectors by smearing a
thin layer of petroleum jelly onto a microscope slides. Try to make the layer as even as

possible. Use a q-tip to lightly smear the specimen side of each slide. You will need to
prepare 2 slides per group and place them in a slide container to avoid smearing the
petroleum jelly on anyone.
3. Each group will place one labeled slide on the exterior of the school. Some groups
should choose areas that would receive few particulates, others should choose locations
that produce more particulates. (Keep in mind sources of particulate matter)
4. One member from each group should take the second slide and place it in a location
inside the school.
5. You should then place your ozone monitoring strip outside for 8 hrs. Before placing
the strip outside, dip the strip in distilled water, then attach the strip out of sunlight.
When placing your strip find the relative humidity for that day.
6. The next day, each group should collect their slide and ozone monitoring strip.
6. Dunk each strip into distilled water. Use the chart at the right to determine the
Schoenbein Number of your strip
7. Use the relative humidity and the Schoenbein number to calculate the concentration
of ground level ozone using the chart below.
8. Look at your particulate matter slide under the microscope. First decide the amount
of particulates and then attempt to estimate the source of the PM. Your group will need
to decide how you can classify what type of PM was collected.
Data:

Inside Particle
Matter

Inside Ozone

Outside particle
matter

Outside Ozone

Light

Light

Light

9.5

Light

10

Light

10

Data Analysis: We discovered that the outside ozone to be 9.5 and the inside ozone to
be 0. The measured outside particle matter was very small and there was none inside.
Because of this, we know that there is a lot of ozone in our air outside that we breathe.
This can be very harmful if the levels continue to rise. As you can see above, the strip
from outside turned a darker purple color which indicates high ozone levels. We found
that the air inside of our school has no ozone and it is very healthy and clean. However,
the amount of particle matter we found outside is very small. This means that it is not
dangerous in that case. The class data shows that the amount of ozone outside was
high. The ozone inside was pretty low in the class data. The data was pretty consistent
although the outside papers could have differed because of their location and direct
sunlight use.

Conclusion: The evidence of the lab supported my hypothesis of ozone level, because
there is higher ozone levels outside then inside. Everyone in the class seemed have
relatively similar data. We all could have made many mistakes. We were mistaken and
did not ever take note of the humidity levels. To make this lab more accurate, we could
of just focused on one lab at a time, whether it be PM or ozone. This lab has helped me
understand the difference between the harmful troposphere ozone and good stratosphere
ozone layers. It has also taught me that particulate matter does participate in the
pollution and depletion of ozone. Even though the Clean Air Act is a great idea and
regulation we have in place, we must enforce it upon every country (mainly third world
countries) to develop a healthy, clean outcome for the world.
Citations:
Union of Concerned Scientists, . N.p.. Web. 20 Sep 2013.
<http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/solutions/big_picture_solutions/the-clean-air-act.html>.