what happens when mussel shells are exposed to different types of oils?
mussel lab
Partners Names: Noah Jerge and Apollo Torres
Dates: 11/17-12-12
Oil Mussel Lab
Purpose:
As part of my teams bigger exhibition out magazine groups organized and conducted a lab using a native organism. We chose the Mediterranean Mussel which is grown in the Carlsbad Aquafarms. The purpose of this lab is to see the effects of different oils on the shells of those mussels.
Procedure:
We will have multiple beakers with different ratios of water to oil all with different Mussel shells inside. We will check the shells for five days straight, observing, recording and documenting any changes we see.
Equipment:
Data:
Mussel Shells Pre-Lab Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4
Control (Morce) No Damage, Clean No Damage, Clean becoming translucent, absorbing moisture No change
and absorbing moisture
not come off, cleaned it, no
longer is absorbing moisture
Motor Oil (O'Side Loccs) No Damage, Clean Oil is coating the Oil coats the shell and will Oil thickly coats shell Absorbing or
shell, will not come come off, no longer absorbing shell super coated
off moisture by thick oil
Baby Oil (No Name) No Damage, Clean Shell degradation, absorbing large amounts Degradation on the Degrading shell
shell is slightly of moisture from the baby inside of shell toward the back
transparent oil, shell is degrading a lot and inside
Coconut Oil (Bobby) No Damage, Clean Slight shell degradation, shell is not absorbing Slight purple color on More slight
slightly translucent moisture, shell is turning the outside purple color
purple (unknown is it is a on shell
result of the coconut oil or
if the shell looked like that
in the first place)
Corn Syrup (Tyrone) No Damage, Clean Bubbles on shell when corn syrup is completely Not absorbing No change,
in corn syrup covering the shell moisture syrup seems
to be preserving shell
After a week of not checking the experiment, we decided to continue to check it one time per week until exhibition
Shells Week 2
Control (Morce) No change
Motor Oil (O'Side Loces) Oil coating the shell
won't come off
Baby Oil (No Name) Has absorbed a great amount
of moisture
Coconut Oil (Bobby) Thickly coats shell leaving
a greasy residue
Corn Syrup (Tyrone) Seems to be preserving the shell
Upon noticing that there was very few shell degradation, we changed our hypothesis to see whether or not oil will affect air flow in water.
Shells Week 2
Control (Morce) Water has good airflow, air particles can be seen
cycling through the entire container.
Motor Oil (O'Side Loces) While the air does cycle through the entire
container, it is happening significantly slower
then when in the water
Baby Oil (No Name) Airflow is slower then the water, but
also faster that the motor oil
Coconut Oil (Bobby) N/A
Corn Syrup (Tyrone) N/A
Upon realizing that the mussel shell appears to be preserved in the corn syrup, we decided to see if we would be able to preserve one of the dead crayfish. The crayfish we have selected shows no significant change and seems to be preserving well as of December 18, 2015.
Error Analysis:
After the first set of experiments had little to no effect my group and I changed to experiment to see if a flow of oxygen would have any effect on the shells. It did not. Eventually we simplified it to see if the carcass of a crayfish would be preserved in corn syrup. It, at this point (1/7/15), has been.
Conclusion:
After multiple tests of different scenarios we have come to the conclusion that Oil has little effect on Mediterranean Mussels if they keep their shells closed.
Dates: 11/17-12-12
Oil Mussel Lab
Purpose:
As part of my teams bigger exhibition out magazine groups organized and conducted a lab using a native organism. We chose the Mediterranean Mussel which is grown in the Carlsbad Aquafarms. The purpose of this lab is to see the effects of different oils on the shells of those mussels.
Procedure:
We will have multiple beakers with different ratios of water to oil all with different Mussel shells inside. We will check the shells for five days straight, observing, recording and documenting any changes we see.
Equipment:
- Five Beakers (four filled with different oils and one with the control)
- Five Empty Mediterranean Mussel Shells
- Corn Syrup
- Motor Oil
- Coconut Oil
- Baby Oil
- Salt Water
- Tongs
- Notebook
- Pencil
Data:
Mussel Shells Pre-Lab Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4
Control (Morce) No Damage, Clean No Damage, Clean becoming translucent, absorbing moisture No change
and absorbing moisture
not come off, cleaned it, no
longer is absorbing moisture
Motor Oil (O'Side Loccs) No Damage, Clean Oil is coating the Oil coats the shell and will Oil thickly coats shell Absorbing or
shell, will not come come off, no longer absorbing shell super coated
off moisture by thick oil
Baby Oil (No Name) No Damage, Clean Shell degradation, absorbing large amounts Degradation on the Degrading shell
shell is slightly of moisture from the baby inside of shell toward the back
transparent oil, shell is degrading a lot and inside
Coconut Oil (Bobby) No Damage, Clean Slight shell degradation, shell is not absorbing Slight purple color on More slight
slightly translucent moisture, shell is turning the outside purple color
purple (unknown is it is a on shell
result of the coconut oil or
if the shell looked like that
in the first place)
Corn Syrup (Tyrone) No Damage, Clean Bubbles on shell when corn syrup is completely Not absorbing No change,
in corn syrup covering the shell moisture syrup seems
to be preserving shell
After a week of not checking the experiment, we decided to continue to check it one time per week until exhibition
Shells Week 2
Control (Morce) No change
Motor Oil (O'Side Loces) Oil coating the shell
won't come off
Baby Oil (No Name) Has absorbed a great amount
of moisture
Coconut Oil (Bobby) Thickly coats shell leaving
a greasy residue
Corn Syrup (Tyrone) Seems to be preserving the shell
Upon noticing that there was very few shell degradation, we changed our hypothesis to see whether or not oil will affect air flow in water.
Shells Week 2
Control (Morce) Water has good airflow, air particles can be seen
cycling through the entire container.
Motor Oil (O'Side Loces) While the air does cycle through the entire
container, it is happening significantly slower
then when in the water
Baby Oil (No Name) Airflow is slower then the water, but
also faster that the motor oil
Coconut Oil (Bobby) N/A
Corn Syrup (Tyrone) N/A
Upon realizing that the mussel shell appears to be preserved in the corn syrup, we decided to see if we would be able to preserve one of the dead crayfish. The crayfish we have selected shows no significant change and seems to be preserving well as of December 18, 2015.
Error Analysis:
After the first set of experiments had little to no effect my group and I changed to experiment to see if a flow of oxygen would have any effect on the shells. It did not. Eventually we simplified it to see if the carcass of a crayfish would be preserved in corn syrup. It, at this point (1/7/15), has been.
Conclusion:
After multiple tests of different scenarios we have come to the conclusion that Oil has little effect on Mediterranean Mussels if they keep their shells closed.