Experiment videos (evidence)

[After 12 hours] Hatched brine shrimp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp5FxkCs5xQ

[After 24 hours] Hatched brine shrimp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR6lUEB79m8

[After 36 hours] Hatched brine shrimp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOF3iFEXK0s&feature=channel_video_title

More photographs of the experiment

The white dots in the photographs are actually hatched brine shrimp.

Experiment photographs (evidence)

Side view of beaker of brine shrimp eggs after 12 hours


Side-view of the beaker of brine shrimp eggs after 48 hours
- The difference in the number of hatched brine shrimp is not clearly visible in the photographs of "48 hours" and "36 hours" Top view of a petri dish of brine shrimp eggs after 36 hours
- I poured out about 200 ml of brine shrimps eggs/salinated water from the beaker into the petri dish, in order to take a clearer and more intimate photograph of the brine shrimp

Side-view of the beaker of brine shrimp after 36 hours

Top view of the beaker of brine shrimp eggs after 24 hours

Another top view photograph of the beaker of brine shrimp eggs after 24 hours

NOTE: The number of hatched brine shrimp cannot be counted from the photographs as some might not have been captured by the camera.

NOTE2: The photographs are not in order but they're all of the same set-up

When I took these photographs, I switched off the lights in the room and placed a flashlight at the side of the beaker. Brine shrimp are attracted to light and would gather at lit areas, hence giving me the opportunity to count them reliably and take good quality photographs.

The photographs here are all of the control set-up (with no exposure to low-frequencies). The set-up just consists of 2 beakers of salinated water containing brine shrimp eggs. No other materials or apparatus were used except the counter in counting the brine shrimp. Two beakers were used in order to increase the number of times the experiment was carried out which would improve the consistency of data and reliability of results.

Photographs of experimental set-up

Photograph of the experimental set-up.

The distance of the beaker and Mac speaker is 5cm. The numbers on the markings are not displayed clearly enough in the photograph due to poor photo quality. However, 5 markings can be visibly counted from the mouth of the beaker to the bottom of the Mac and hence, 5 cm.
Photograph of the hands lens used in the experiment. Courtesy of the school's biology lab.

Photograph of the transparent beaker used in the experiment.

Successful hatching

I followed the method I used in hatching the brine shrimp eggs of my trial experiment. This resulted in successful hatching of all the brine shrimp eggs in my experiment! I ensured that I maintained a suitable level of salinity and type of water (boiled water). I was so worried that the eggs would go back to not hatching again. However, the eggs were of good quality and had not lost its viability so my worries were unfounded. The eggs hatched within just 12 hours and carried on doing so up till 48 eggs. From that point onwards, there was no further hatching of eggs. From the 3rd day onwards, the hatched brine shrimp started dying off because they did not have any food to survive. From the 1st hour they hatched, they were fueled by energy from their eggs. However, once the energy had been used up, they required a pinch of baker's or brewer's yeast or else they would perish.

I formatted the table in Microsoft Word and plotted the data directly into it. Therefore, there are no rough notebook photographs or rough data collation work whatsoever.

Final aim and hypothesis

My previous aim and hypothesis are as follows:

Aim: To find out if different levels of low-frequency sound waves (ocean noise pollution) emitted by the human's marine activities affect the hatching rate of brine shrimp

Hypothesis: Different levels of low-frequency sound waves (ocean noise pollution) emitted by the human's marine activities affect the hatching rate of brine shrimp

However, I have decided to refine it to make it less of a "yes, no" question but more of one that would allow for greater research. In other words, I would like to change it to a "How" question. Another point is the words "hatching rate". Rate is a rather vague term and does not accurately define what I would like to measure. The dictionary's definition of rate is " A quantity measured with respect to another measured quantity" which is not how I am going about with my experiment. Therefore, I am changing it to "speed".

Therefore, my new aim and hypothesis are as follows:

Aim: To find out how different levels of low-frequency sound waves (ocean noise pollution emitted by human's marine activities) affect the hatching speed of brine shrimp.

Hypothesis: The lower the level of low-frequency sound waves (ocean noise pollution emitted by the human's marine activities), the slower the hatching speed of brine shrimp eggs

Revised experimental procedure

Since I have to set up two set-ups testing the same frequency at one go, I have revised my experimental procedure.

Materials and apparatus

1. Artemia (Brine Shrimp) eggs
2. Macbook with the app, Tone Generator X
3. Hands lens
4. Counter
5. 2 transparent beaker
6. 160g of sea salt
7. Boiled water
8. Science journal

Procedure

1. Place 2 beakers in a semi-lit room
2. Pour 1000 ml of boiled water into each beaker
3. Add in 20g of sea salt into each beaker
4. Place the speaker of the Macbook directly above the mouth of both beakers
5. Switch the software, Tone Generator X, on to 186 Hz at the volume level of 80%
6. Add in half a teaspoon of Artemia (brine shrimp) eggs
7. Check the set-up with a hands lens at every 12-hour interval and use the counter to count the number of eggs that have hatched
8. Record down in my journal the number of eggs that hatched
9. Repeat steps with 171 Hz, 259 Hz and 223 Hz