The side of the column that recieved the sun light is green. It is due to the growth of cianobacteria which are photosynthetic microorganism and use the light to synthesize organic matter. There weren't any bubbles or breaks what means there wasn't methane. This absence of methane is because we didn't use a large amount of organic matter (paper). Another sign of that is the lack of grey matter at the bottom of the column.
Week 2 (3-29-17):
The past week we covered almost all the column with foil in order to reduce the amount of photosynthetic microorganism and to stratify the column. Our objective was a succes as the number of cianobacteria were reduced due to the lack of light and consequently, the fall in the photosynthetic activity. The methane continued not to being a problem. The water was muddy and some bubbles started to rise (probably they were oxygen or methane).
Week 3 (4-19-17):
Last week we removed the foil to let the cianobacteria grow again. Also, we put at the opening of the column a transparent cover (paraffin) and made a hole in it. It started to grow some red bacteria where the microalga were growing and in the part of the column where there was no oxygen too. It is probably a facultative bacteria, which can live with or without oxygen depending on the amount of it. There weren't any cracks or big methane bubbles in the medium but there was a grey stratum at the bottom, composed by organic waste (produced in the chemical reactions of the microorganism).
"bubbles (probably they were oxygen or methane)." BIg difference if they are one or the other... what do you think they are? adnd what produces them?
ReplyDelete"It started to grow some red bacteria". What are these orange bacteria?