The Effect of Chlorine to Plants

The ‘CHROnIC’ Effect

By Matthew Martin P. Sanchez

Introduction:

        The chemical Chlorine (Cl) is a very beneficial chemical. It is widely used as a disinfectant and a germ killer. It could be used as water purifier like the way it is used on swimming pools. Also, chlorine is used as in wood beaching, essential for paper making.

However, higher concentrations of Chlorine would be very perilous. In swimming pools, the normal Chlorine concentration is 1.5-3.0 milligrams /liter. This is why nearby plants could tolerate this concentration.

This then brings me to my experiment of what would be the effect of a much higher Chlorine concentration (250 g/l) on plants.                                                        

Objective:

        To know the difference in height growth between a plant watered with pure water and a plant watered with the Chlorine mixture.

Materials and Methods:

• 6 Plants w/ same species (Duranta erecta)
• Chlorine(250 grams)
• Water
• Camera
• Ruler
• Cup (200 ml)

1. First, I made the Chlorine mixture. I poured the 250 g of Cl to 1 liter of water.
2. I labeled the plant which was watered with pure water with ‘Plant A’  and the plant which was watered with Chlorine mixture with ‘Plant D’.
3. I got the measurement of each of these plants.
4. I watered the ‘Plant A’ with ½ cup of pure water and ‘Plant D’ with ½ cup of the Chlorine mixture.
5. I repeated method nos. 3 & 4 on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th days.
6. On the 4th day, I recorded my observations.
7. I tabulated the results.

Results and Discussion:

[pic 1]

(from left to right; ‘Plant A’; ‘Plant D’)

To ensure the validity of my results, I made another 2 sets of plants undergone through same methods parallel to the 1st set (‘Plant A’ and ‘Plant D’). Here are the results:

[pic 2][pic 3]