Problem Statement: What are the effects of various detergents on the germination of lima beans? How can this problem be applied to the environment and pollution impact upon our environment?

The relevance of the problem question is to compare the results from the isolated experiment (closed experiment) to the pollution in the agricultural fields in the St. James Parish area. The idea is to determine if certain chemical pollutants in the detergents as well as the pesticides such as P (Phosphorus) have a negative impact upon the germination or growth of agricultural products such as beans.

Literature Review: For the purposes of this experiment the manipulated variable will be the different detergents that the lima beans will be exposed to. Previous research was conducted using pea pods. The responding variable will be the lima beans after they have grown. The lima beans will be weighed before exposure to the detergents and after as were done with the pea pods in the separate experiment. Pea pods were grown in a growing tent under a fluorescent light. The different types of detergents used were Tide and Arrow powder detergent. Each of 2 oz of each variable detergent was added to each cup and mixed in with one cup of potting soil. Bean was added in and watered. Two of each was prepared with same detergent for reproducibility purposes. For the purposes of the pea pod experiment only the Tide and Arrow powder detergent was used in the amount of 2 oz per pea pod reproduced in 2 times per pea pod. It was found that the Tide detergent negatively affected the growth of the control experiment by 4x the amount and the Arrow detergent negatively affected the growth of the control experiment by 3x the amount.

Actual Results

Experimental Design: To expose lima beans to various detergents including powder and liquid detergents with Phosphorus (P) to determine which are most disadvantageous as a pollutant to agriculture (beans)? The lima bean was the dependent variable and the independent variable was the various detergents including Tide detergent (powder) Arrow (powder) Dawn (liquid) Ivory (liquid). Each of the lima bean potting bean pots were prepared with potting soil and 2 oz of detergent was added in with a mixture of H2O and the bean was allowed to grow for 4 weeks while growth trend was watched, recorded and charted.

For the purposes of this experimentation, the threat of experimentation vitality is the person conducting the experimentation, the instrument used to measure the Phosphorus and the tape used to measure the growth of the plants. It is important to use a few control plants so that the base line can be correctly drawn. Again, the vitality of the experiment can be incorrect if the control of the experiment is not correctly drawn by the human experimenter.

The lima beans were planted in the small pod plant filled ½ full with podding soil, 2 oz. detergent was added, the lima beans were watered then the plants were put under a fluorescent light to grow.