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Chemistry Essay - Acid/base


LancerGirl

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Well, I really want to do my EE in chemistry (I'm a science buff, neh), but I'm having some trouble deciding whether my possible research questions are too [i]simple[/i]. I am the first student doing an Chemistry EE in my school, ever (we just started the IB programme this year, so obviously nobody else has gone through, and everyone dropped the idea of a chem essay). I've had some rough spots so far (such as, my topic was too complicated), and our 'rough draft' of the EE is due before school's out (June of this year). I can't work on it at summer, cause I'm at Shad Valley for a month... and hell like I'm working while I'm there.

My possible (very rough) topics are as follows, and will probably increase soon, although I'm leaning in the direction of an Acid-Base Chemistry essay:

How does pH level affect the rate at which water freezes?

How does pH level affect the rate at which soil freezes?
Does the plastic from plastic bottles seep into the water and contaminate it?
Does the consumption of food containing acids (citrics) affects the amount of bacteria in our mouths?
Does brushing your teeth affect the pH in your mouth after eating?
The affect of a plant (i.e. algae) on the pH level in water
Does pH level affect plant (i.e. algae) growth? (Too much biology?)


Any comments, tips, or aide is muchly appriciated. :P

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[quote name='LancerGirl' post='14646' date='Apr 7 2008, 01:47 PM']My possible (very rough) topics are as follows, and will probably increase soon, although I'm leaning in the direction of an Acid-Base Chemistry essay:

How does pH level affect the rate at which water freezes?

How does pH level affect the rate at which soil freezes?
Does the plastic from plastic bottles seep into the water and contaminate it?
Does the consumption of food containing acids (citrics) affects the amount of bacteria in our mouths?
Does brushing your teeth affect the pH in your mouth after eating?
The affect of a plant (i.e. algae) on the pH level in water
Does pH level affect plant (i.e. algae) growth? (Too much biology?)


Any comments, tips, or aide is muchly appriciated. :) [/quote]

Those are quite interesting! Since it is your school's first year doing this, I would definitely reccomend that you follow an EE guide, of which there are many online.
The last two have a bit too much Biology, and unless you like Biology and know how to explain why certain things are happening I wouldn't suggest it.
For the ones involving a person's mouth I would be cautious about the experimental setup because certain controls may be difficult to account for.
Regarding the topic about water bottles, how would you test for that?
I like your topics regarding pH and freezing points! Personally, I would choose water since it's straightforward and can be explained rather easily. Soil may be a bit more of a challenge because you might want to analyze the soil composition, etc.

Acid and bases are interesting, I don't know if you would be interested in doing an experiment about how different things (temperature, concentration, catalysts, etc.) affect neutralization reactions? Or if you would like to do something more complicated?
Anyway, these are just a few random comments.
Good luck in choosing a topic! :)

Edited by greekamprincess
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