Background Research
Before we researched about our topic, we already knew that nitrogen contributes to the growth of algae. We had to research on the other chemical compounds. The Nitrate test measure the amount of nitrate in the water because if there is too much nitrate in the water it can cause an over stimulation of plant growth in the water which will lead to algae blooms. The Phosphate test measures the amount of phosphorus in the water. If there is too much phosphorus in the water it can affect the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water. The Ammonia test will give us an idea of how much ammonia is in the water. If there is too much ammonia present in the water it will affect the aquatic life in the water. pH is the scale of which we can see if water is acidic or basic. Almost all the water falls within the pH range of 7 which is preferred. The Coli form test is a test that indicates the presence or absence of fecal matter within a body of water. We knew that this test was essential for our experiment because certain bodies of water have a various amounts of feces, depending if there are organisms living nearby. We want to see if a certain amount of feces within a body of water can actually contribute to the water quality and what chemical it adds to the water.
We got most of our information from https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/. This website is provided in order to research on any chemical compound with its equation and what it is made out of. It is created by the U.S National Library of Medicine.