Mrs.
McQuone’s 9th
grade FSUS Earth/Space Science classes tested the water quality at a
nearby South Wood pond. South Wood is a unique community located in the
heart of Tallahassee, Florida. The community consists of housing, a golf
course, the Florida State University Schools High School, a community
center, a golf club, and soon a YMCA family centre. South Wood was
originally a plantation with only one house on it, the South Wood Mansion.
The owners of the plantation sold the land and the South Wood mansion to a
company called St.Joe or now known as Arvida. The company soon started to
develop the community that South Wood is now. The plantation does
still have all of its original lakes, ponds, streams, etc.
LEARNING TO TEST IN THE CLASSROOM…
We learned in the
classroom how to test turbidity. Turbidity means cloudiness or how cloudy
the substance is. This is beneficial when you are testing water in ponds
and other natural water because it shows you how much dirt and other
molecules are floating in the water.
We also learned how to
test the temperature of the water and other substances. To do this we use
probes or sensors. This is helpful because you always need to know the
temperature of the water or substance before doing any other tests.
Our class also learned how
to test the PH of water and other substances. This is always helpful to
know how to do because you need to know the PH of the pond water to know
if it is safe or not. If the PH is too high then it is acidic and if it is
to low then that means that too much bacteria can grow. We also used the
probes or sensors to do these test.
TESTING AT THE POND…
FINALLY…we
got to go to the pond and test the water quality! All the learning in the
classroom paid off. We tested the temperature of the water and the air,
the PH level of the water the light intensity at the pond, and the
turbidity.
YUCK…look at all
that alga. This picture should give you a good idea of turbidity!
These are the probes or sensors that we used. They are called
“Xplorers”
