8 Can Fruit Save Us From a Drought?

Can Fruit Save Us From a Drought?

Cameron Compare

Problem:

Hypothesis:

I believe that the orange peel and avocado mixture will hold more water than soil.

Procedure:

1. I obtained 5 oranges, 3 avocados, soil, and 2 measuring beakers.
2. Next, I peeled the oranges and skinned the avocados
3. Thirdly, the orange peels soaked in 20 ml of lemon juice for an hour
4. Then the orange peels were boiled in 120ml of water until the water evaporated
5. The orange peels were then drained of excess liquid and cup into small pieces
6. Next, the avocado skins were cut up and added to the orange peels to sun dry for 14 days.
7. After that the avocado skins and orange peels were added to the orange juice stored earlier
8. The mixture was then placed in a oven at 350℉ for 20 minutes
9. The mixture was then taken out of the oven and crushed, then the mixture was ready for testing
10. The mixture and soil were placed in two beakers to see how much water they could hold

Conclusion:

In conclusion, after making and testing the orange and avocado mixture my hypothesis was validated. Clearly, this mixture is very attractive to farmers in risk of droughts and would be a wise business decision. It was proven that the mixture can serve as a natural, biodegradable, and cheap solution to an often expensive and devastating natural disaster because in a drought every drop of water counts.

Data:

The Amount of water held by 200 ml of substance.

Abstract:

In recent decades droughts in the U.S has been greatly increasing. In 2012 81% percent of the country was abnormally dry. Also Africa is suffering one of the worst droughts in 45 years. Droughts are even rumored to be the reason why the Mayans went extinct. Clearly, this is a global problem that needs to be addressed immediately. Instead of watching the problem grow I wanted to do something about. I search the internet to see if anyone has ever tested a solution before me. I found a person named Kiara Nirghin who designed a powder that supposably could hold more water than soil. I then decided I was going to make and test this powder myself to see if it was truly capable of holding more water than soil. My hypothesis was the powder would hold more water than the soil because the powder was made out of orange peels and avocado skins.

First I collected my material. For this experiment I needed 5 oranges and 3 avocados and a sufficient size pot to conduct the experiment in. Next I peeled the 5 oranges and skinned the 3 avocados. Thirdly I put the orange peels in 20 ml of lemon juice and let soak for an hour. The orange peels were placed in 125 ml of water and boiled for roughly 50 mins when the liquid evaporated. I removed the orange peels from the pot, placing them over a bowl so that the excess liquid could be removed. After this, the orange peels were grinded up into very small pieces. The avocado skins were cut into fine pieces and added to the orange peel mixture. This mixture was sun dried for 14 days. The sun dried orange and avocado peels were added to the orange juice stored from before. The mixture was placed in the oven at 350℉ for 25 mins. The mixture was removed and crushed by way of blender and ready for testing.

After the mixture was made it was placed in a measuring beaker and in another measuring beaker soil was placed. Both beakers had 200 ml of substance in them. Both beakers will filled with water until the water started to flood over the substance. The orange and avocado mixture held 198 ml of water, but the soil only held 152 ml of water. If I could do this experiment over again I would make the powder more than once so I could have tested more.

After making and testing the orange and avocado mixture my hypothesis was validated. Clearly, this mixture is very attractive to farmers in risk of droughts. It was proven that the mixture can serve as a natural, biodegradable, and cheap solution to an often expensive and devastating natural disaster because in a drought every drop of water counts.

Pictures: