Riccardo's Science Blog

Have you heard about the problem of the grey bay? No, well I’m here to talk to you about it. All over the grey bay there have been fish found dead and the people are eager to find the culprit. Autopsies on the fish have been done but we’ll talk about that later. There are many factors in this conversation, such as chlorine, oil spills, sediment in the water, phosphates in the water,etc. I think that based on the results of the autopsies (which were 14 killed by oil, 21 insufficient oxygen, 8 by chlorine and 7 others, out of fifty fish.) that the people from the golf course who have been putting phosphates in the water are killing most of them. Phosphates are a problem but the people at the golf course are also releasing sediment when there is erosion. If the river is murky, fish will be unable to see. This can cause them to starve because they will be unable to find their prey, and it will also cause them to breathe in the sediment. Another thing is that the sediment settles t...

phys.org Image -  Summary - This week in science, we continued our investigation on the dying fish. Phosphates can harm fish by causing oxygen loss. Phosphates allow algae to grow, but too many phosphates in a body of water can cause algal blooms. Although fish eat algae, and many people would think that it is good for them, it isn't. Algae starts to rot, and then the rotting algae is eaten by bacteria. The bacteria continues to multiply as it eats the regrowing algae. The bacteria then steals all of the oxygen out of the water, therefore, leaving little to no fish and killing lot's of fish. We also investigated oil. Different oils have different patterns, just like fingerprints. Oils can float on water or sink to the bottom. Different oils include oil that is leaked out from cars, (fuel emissions) and refinery oil. I name those two because we looked at both of them. SP3 - We tested water samples for phosphates. By finding out which water body/bodies have the most pho...

www.wildjunket.com Image- Summary -  This week, we learned about acid rain and sediment. Acid rain in the Gray area may be caused by the logging, oil refinery, city, and toy factory. This is because the logging, toy factory, city, and oil refinery all let out carbon dioxide (cars), as well as harmful gasses/smog (refinery and factory) The logging also causes the amount of green house gasses and other harmful gasses to be released into the air. Trees normally control the amount of these gasses, but with the trees gone, the amount of gasses increases. These gasses and chemicals trigger chemical reactions within the clouds, creating acid rain. Another problem with logging is that logging can cause erosion. When trees are cut down, their roots no longer hold the soil in place, causing the soil to erode into the river. Sediment is also a problem. If the river is murky, fish will be unable to see. This can cause them to starve because they will be unable to find their prey, a...