All About Oxygen in the Ocean: Cheap, Quick and Easy Experiments for Pupils Grades 5 to 10

Abstract:

The collaborative research project (SFB 754) at GEOMAR Helmholtz-Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany addresses among others the decreasing concentrations of oxygen in the oceans. The school outreach component of the SFB 754 a project funded by the German Science Foundation aims to spread the science behind ocean de-oxygenation in secondary schools in Germany. To realise this goal, a series of hands-on experiments have been developed on different topics like gas solubility in water, gas transport in the ocean, oxygen production by phytoplankton, oxygen consumption by bacteria and experiments on nutrient uptake by phytoplankton. The experiments developed are simple, using low cost and reusable materials thus ensuring affordability in schools.

For the hands-on session the following experiments will be presented: (1) The effects of temperature, oxygen partial pressure, nature of solute and nature of solvent on the solubility of oxygen in water will be demonstrated using Luer-Lock syringes, (2) Oxygen transport from the ocean surface to the deep will be shown in an experiment using a modification of the “blue-bottle” experiment, and (3) Simulation of ocean circulation employing a 2-dimensional tank.

Applications and experiment ideas using immobilised phytoplankton and other procedures suitable for schools for measuring oxygen consumption by bacteria will be introduced in a poster presentation.