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Title: Measuring the Impact of Household Cleaners on Water Supply
Household Cleaning Product: Windex
Purpose: Students observe how the addition of various household cleaners affect the pH level and contamination of Lake Michigan.
Experiment #1 - Hypothesis: If Windex cleaning product is added to Lake Michigan, then the drinking water supply will become more basic. Due to the presence of ammonia, Windex's pH level is approximately 10 on the 0-14 scale. Most of the water for consumption purposes is taken near Lake Michigan's shore, around 2.5 miles; this water possesses an average pH of 7.9. By adding basic cleaners, such as Windex, the resulting mixture at around 8.7 will become too basic for human use. Although an ideal pH range for pure drinking water is 8-9, the extra chemicals in the product harm the digestive system. In addition, any freshwater organisms and their habitats will suffer from the sudden change in basicity.
Experiment #2 - Hypothesis: If distilled vinegar, as a household cleaner, is added to Lake Michigan, then the drinking water supply will become less basic. This is because acetic acid, a weak acid, lowers the pH of vinegar to approximately 2 on the 0-14 scale. When added to alkaline water with a pH of 8, the acidity of the vinegar will lower the pH level to 6-7, a neutral value. Even though pure water is found at a neutral pH, excess acidity can cause detrimental problems on organisms' digestive processes.
Experiment #3 - Hypothesis: If the temperature of the alkaline water is increased, then the basicity of the Windex solution will decrease. This is due to the fact that the participles in the heated alkaline water are moving at a faster rate than the Windex particles. As a result, the water particles can easily travel throughout the Windex molecules and overwhelm the Windex particles in terms of pH levels. The resulting solution will have a pH level closer to the water's original 8 than the Windex solution's 9.
Experiment #4 - If the temperature of the alkaline water is increased, then the acidity of the vinegar solution will decrease. This is due to the fact that the participles in the heated alkaline water are moving at a faster rate than the vinegar particles. As a result, the water particles can easily travel throughout the vinegar molecules and overwhelm the vinegar particles in terms of pH levels. The resulting solution will have a pH level closer to the water's original 8 than the vinegar solution's 7.
Experiment #5 - Hypothesis: If sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is properly titrated, then the molarity (concentration) of vinegar can be calculated, because the percent by mass can be determined using the mass of acetic acid in 1 liter of vinegar.