Hands-on Experiments To Test for Acid Mine Drainage

The pH is a measurement (color change or number) of how acidic or basic (alkaline) a chemical substance may be. As you can see in the above picture, the pH scale ranges from 0 to 14, with 7 being the middle or neutral point.  A substance with a pH of less than 7 is acidic, and if it is greater than 7 the substance is basic or alkaline.  Each time the pH changes 1 unit there is a tenfold increase or decrease in the strength of the acid or base being measured.  Litmus paper is one way to measure the strength of an acid or base. Other ways include electronic pH meters and chemical tests kits that measure the pH by comparing results to a color scale.  For more information and definitions, check the websites below.

Hint: Lemon juice and vinegar are acids and should turn the paper pink; baking soda is a base and should turn the paper green. If there are no color changes with your test substances, this means that they fall somewhere close to the middle of the pH scale.

Tools and Things you will need

What to do.

• Pull off the cabbage leaves.
• Press them down hard on the white card until the card turns purple (6^th grader Peter Cable discovered that the purple in the leaves works the best).
• When you have turned the whole card purple, put a drop of each test substance on the card.

• Cut cabbage into chunks.
• Blend the cabbage chunks into a blender until liquid.
• Strain the contents of the blended cabbage with the strainer.
• Mix a drop of this liquid with the substance being tested.

Tools and Things you will need

What to do.

• Get a cup of water out of your local creek and pour it into a bowl.
• Wash and dry the measuring cup.
• Test the water with litmus paper (acids turn the paper pink).
• Measure out one cup of baking soda.
• If the water is acid, slowly stir baking soda into the bowl.
• Test with new litmus paper periodically until the paper turns blue. (This happens when the acid is neutralized.)
• Repeat with a variety of acids (lemon juice, cola, and coffee) and a variety of bases (milk, milk of magnesia, and chalk).

• How much baking soda was needed to neutralize your creek water, how about cola or lemon juice?
• What happened when you combined two different acids?
• What else did you see?

• Which substance had the highest pH (was the most basic), and which had the lowest pH (the most acidic)?
• What else can you conclude? Write down what you think.

Tools and Things you will need

What to do.

• Test the pH of the creek water with litmus paper. Write it down.
• Find a stretch of your creek that has a riffle. A riffle is a shallow rapid where water flows swiftly over small rocks (cobblestones).
• Stretch a net downstream from the riffle.
• Kick and rub the cobblestones to get the organisms to fall off the rocks. Do this for 2 or 3 minutes. (Make sure you rub the rocks upstream from the net.)
• Collect the aquatic organisms caught in the net and place them in a jar.
• Lay out the aquatic organisms and compare them to the pictures found in your reference material.

• How many aquatic organisms came off the cobblestones?
• What kinds of organisms were there?
• What were some other things collected in the net?
• What else did you see?

• What information can you interpret from the different types of aquatic macroinvertebrates present in the creek?
• What are your conclusions? Write down what you think.

Note: The macroinvertebrates shown above are not to scale, which means they are not rhe actual size as they will be if you find them in your creek.

Tools and Things you will need

What to do.

• Collect solid materials that are found where you live.
• Add tap water to bottles and measure the pH with litmus paper.
• Add one type of solid material to each of the water bottles. To get a good result, break the solid materials into very small (crushed) pieces.
• Put water but no solids in one bottle. (This is called the control.)
• Measure the pH of each bottle over time and write down what you see.

• What materials lowered the pH of the water?
• What materials raised the pH of the water?
• How long did it take for acid to form?
• What else did you see?

• What materials in your areas creek do you think can cause acid mine drainage?
• How could you prevent acid mine drainage from forming?
• What are your conclusions? Write down what you think.

Tools and Things you will need

What to do.

• Test the pH of the water with litmus paper. (Is your creek acidic?)
• Collect, draw, or take photos of the plants growing along your creek. If you collect the plants, only take one. If you find only one kind of a plant by your creek, do not collect iit. We would prefer that you draw or take pictures of the plants instead.
• Take any plants that you collect and press them in a phone book between sheets of newspaper.
• Identify and make a list of these plants.
• Dig out one or two of the plants to the root, or find their seeds to see if you can get them to grow somewhere else (do not take any plants without permission).
• Take a field trip to a wetland area.

• What types of plants grow along the creek?
• What kind and color of soil did they grow in (hard, soft, squishy, wet, orange, black, or gray)?
• What equipment did you need to keep the plants alive?
• What else did you see?

• What information did the plants give you?
• What are your conclusions? Write down what you think.

Tools and Things you will need

What to do.

• With an eyedropper, collect in baby food jars the different red, yellow, orange, or brown flocculates in the water. Try filling some of the jars all the way to the top, and leave an air space in some of the other jars.
• Test each jar with litmus paper to check its pH, and write down the results.
• Put the jars on a windowsill. (Put some jars on a south-facing windowsill - gets direct sunlight. Put other jars on a north-facing windowsill - doesn't ever get sunlight). Certain algae will probably develop in the jars receiving the sunlight, and certain bacteria will develop in the jars that do not receive sunlight.
• Observe over 2 or more weeks and take the pH of the water regularly.  Take notes of what you see and be sure to include the dates and times of your observations.

• Observe the water sample every other day or so (if possible). Did swimming protozoans hatch out?
• Did any of the iron bacteria colonize (coat) the jar?
• Did any of the iron bacteria form a reddish, oily looking film at the surface between the air and the water?
• Did any of the iron bacteria form a brown ring at the top of the water?
• What else did you see?

• Did you collect acid loving iron oxidizing bacteria or neutral iron bacteria? How can you tell the difference?
• What are your onclusions? Write down what you think.

Tools and Things you will need

What to do.

• Fill a small jar or pill bottle full with water from your creek.
• Test the water for its pH with litmus paper. Write it down.
• Pour in one capful of hydrogen peroxide.
• Let the red flocculates settle.
• Test the water again for its pH. Write it down.
• Repeat the experiment with water that has been kept in a refrigerator for 1 hour.
• Repeat the experiment with water left in a warm stove for 1 hour.
• Repeat the experiment with baking soda.

• What happened when you put hydrogen peroxide in the water? What about baking soda?
• What happened to the pH?
• Which reaction (refrigerator, warm stove) occurred faster?
• What else did you see?

• What kind of chemical reaction did you perform?
• Does heat or cold speed up a reaction?
• What are your conclusions? Write down what you think.

A common element in Appalachian creeks is iron (Fe).  Iron has many different forms and colors, and each tells its own story about the chemistry of the creek where it is found.  Iron that occurs naturally in the creeks does not normally cause a problem, but it can be increased by human activities to a point where it becomes harmful to the life in a creek.  The color of the iron in a creek will show you what type of chemical reaction is occurring. If the iron is red it is being oxidized, if it is black it is being reduced.

Tools and Things you will need

What to do.

• Fill jars with red, yellow, or orange flocculates and water from a creek.  These can be found in many different creeks but are more common in those affected by acid mine drainage.
• Dig with a shovel in different places along the creek bed until you find the change from red to black.
• Add some of the black sediment to some of the jars and fill all the way to the top to keep out oxygen.
• Label the jars with the dates of collection.
• Put covered jars on windowsills and observe them over several weeks.

• Make observations as to what happened to the colors. Write down everything you observe.
• At the end of the experiment, uncover the jars and smell them. Write down what you smell.
• What else did you see?

• Which of these colors are from iron?
• Which iron was oxidized and which was reduced?
• What are your conclusions? Write down what you think.

Tools and Things you will need

What to do.

• This experiment requires that your creek has cobblestones in it that are coated black.
• Tie a string or small rope across your creek. Attach some of the materials listed above to the string, allowing them to dangle into the creek. (You may also attach them to tree roots and wooden stakes.)
• Fill a large jar with creek water collected near the riffles; drop a microscope slide into the jar. Examine this slide at least once a week. Write down what you see and how changes occurred over time.
• Write down what day you started the experiment.
• Examine the items dangling in the creek at least once a week. Write down what you see and how changes occurred over time.
• After about 6 weeks, end the experiment (write down the ending date) and make your final observations and comments.

• What materials became coated with manganese?
• What did you see on the microscope slides?
• Why do you think manganese sticks to many things?
• What else did you see?

• Which materials do manganese oxidizing bacteria like best?
• What are your conclusions? Write down what you think.

---

Is the groundwater acid also?

Tools and Things you will need

Shovel

Gloves

Rubber boots

Hollow pipe*

* Short length of PVC, steel, or aluminum pipe.

What to do.

• Test your creek's pH with litmus paper.
• Move away from the stream in a straight-line (transect) and push a pipe down into the sediment, or dig a hole with a shovel.
• Collect the water from the hole and test its pH with litmus paper.
• Test another distance further away from your creek.

• How deep did you have to dig to find water as you moved farther away from the creek?  What does this tell you about the water table?
• Was the underground water the same chemistry as the creek?
• What else did you see?

• Would acids leak into the groundwater from the creek or from other underground sources?
• What are your conclusions? Write down what you think.

Tools and Things you will need

What to do.

• How can you tell if an impurity is present in the environment?
• Find out if your creek has white foam.
• Collect the white flocculate in a baby food jar with an eyedropper.
• Smell the mud under the white flocculate.  What do you smell?  A sulfur smell may indicate the presence of sulfur-reducing bacteria.

• Look at the flocculates under a microscope.
• Do you see changes over time?
• What else did you see?

• What types of substances are present in your creek? How can you find out what is in your creek?
• What are your conclusions? Write down what you think.

Acid mine drainage sometimes forms when minerals are exposed during mining. These minerals weather and release the contents into nearby creeks which sometimes causes them to become acidic (lower the pH). Acid drainage effects thousands of miles of streams throughout the U.S. It can affect animals, plants, and small organisms living in or near the stream. At the present time, many industries use chemicals to treat the contaminated waters. However, less expensive methods are also available to help clean up acid mine drainage.

Tools and Things you will need

What to do.

• Find an acid creek and use litmus paper to measure the pH.
• Collect the water in bottles.
• Add one natural material (leaves, pine needles, cobblestones) to each bottle. Measure the initial pH and write it down.
• Every few days for about a 2-week period, measure the pH to see what happens in each bottle. Write down your results.

• What materials decreased the pH of the water?
• What materials increased the pH of the water?
• What materials caused solids to form at the bottom of the bottles?
• What colors were the solids?
• Did one of your experiments change acidic water to neutral?

• What natural materials may be used to treat acid mine drainage?
• Can you create a treatment system using these natural materials?
• What are your conclusions? Write down what you think.

As mentioned in the previous experiment, there are many expensive ways to treat acid mine drainage problems.  Another alternative is a more passive treatment of constructed and natural wetlands. In the wetland, a combination of the plants, the holding capacity (how long the water will stay in the wetland), the soil, and the bacteria are responsible for treating the acid mine drainage.  Many times these areas have a "rotten egg" smell, which is hydrogen sulfide gas being released through biological reactions that take place in the wetlands.  This odor's presence is one way to tell if the wetland is helping to treat acid mine drainage.

Tools and Things you will need

What to do.

• Collect acid mine drainage in 9 bottles.
• Collect mud that smells like rotten eggs from a wetland.
• Add mud to 6 of the bottles and yeast to 3 of the bottles.
• Measure the pH in the bottles over time, label each bottle, write down its pH, and watch for different colors to form.
• Smell each bottle and write down what you smell (rotten eggs, a yeast smell, or something else).

• What happened in the bottles having no yeast?
• What happened in the bottles having yeast?
• Which bottles really smelled like rotten eggs?
• Which bottles had bacteria activity?
• How did the bacteria affect the smell of the water?
• What color was associated with the strong smell?
• What else did you smell?

• What might affect the ability of the bacteria to treat the water?
• Why do people use compost in constructed wetlands?
• What are your conclusions? Write down what you think.

Designing your own experiments

• Any amounts or measures you will be using
• Your one variable and how you will change it
• Your control
• How you are going to measure the change you observe
• Diagrams or drawings so your ideas are clear

Conduct Experiment, Gather Data, and Record Observations: As you experiment, record all numerical measurements made. Data can be amounts of chemicals used, how long something is, the time something took, etc. If you are not making any measurements, you probably are not doing an experimental science project. Observations can be written descriptions of what you noticed during an experiment or problems encountered. You should be looking for differences between your control group and your experimental group(s).

Two things to be aware of while doing your experiment and making observations.

• First, if you did not observe any differences between the control and experimental groups, then the variable you changed may not affect your experiment.
• Second, if you did not observe a consistent, reproducible trend in your experimental runs, there may be experimental errors affecting your results or something else that you might not have thought about.

Always keep careful notes of everything you do and everything that happens. Observations are valuable when drawing conclusions and useful for locating experimental errors.

For more information on science fair projects, designing experiments, and other closely related information, visit the website http://ipl.lub.lu.se/youth/projectguide/

Send us a letter or e-mail with your name, address, city, state, and zip code. Describe your experiments, let us know what you think,  tell us what you have discovered about our environment, and become an important part of the writing of our book on acid mine drainage.  The e-mail and mailing addresses can be found at the beginning of this document.

• AIMS Foundation, 1988, Water, precious water: A collection of elementary water activities for grades 2 through 6: PO Box 8120, Fresno, CA
• Costen, J., and Hornberger, M., 1995, Water wizardry: A teachers guide to classroom activities and demonstrations about water pollution and remediation: U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA (To order contact: Michelle I. Hornberger, 345 Middlefield Rd., MS 465, Menlo Park, CA 94025.)
• U.S. EPA, 1990, Acid rain: A students first source book: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (RD-682), 401 M Street, SW. Washington, DC 20460 (Also available on the Internet at: http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/student/student2.html)
• Gartrell, J.E., and others, 1992, Earth - The water planet: National Science Teachers Association. (To order contact: U.S. Geological Survey, MS 950, Reston, VA 20192.)
• McGee, E., 1995, Acid rain and our Nations Capitol: A guide to effects on buildings and monuments: U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA (To order contact: U.S. Geological Survey, MS 950, Reston, VA 20192.) (Also available on the Internet at: https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/acidrain/)
• Robbins, E.I., and Hayes, M., 1997, What's the red in the water? What's the black on the rocks? What's the oil on the surface?: (Available on the Internet at: https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/microbes/)
• Schrock, J.R., 1993, Surface mining of coal: The Kansas School Naturalist, v. 4, no. 1, Emporia State University, 1200 Commercial St., Emporia, KS 66801-5087
• Sly, C., 1990, Water wisdom: A curriculum for grades 4 - 8: Publication of the Alameda County Office of Education. (To order contact: U.S. Geological Survey Library, MS 950, Reston, VA 20192.)
• Zielinski, E.J., 1995, Acid mine drainage in Pennsylvania, K-12 Awareness Activities: Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources, Bureau of Land and Water Conservation.

A Community Water Quality Monitoring Manual: http://www.vic.waterwatch.org.au/manual/
Acid Mine Drainage, the unseen enemy: http://www.valdosta.edu/~tmanning/hon399/wally.htm
American Rivers: http://www.amrivers.org/mines.html
Aquatic Macroinvertebrate ID: http://www.net1plus.com/users/tdriskell/macroinvertebrates.html
Bacteria in Groundwater: http://www.ce.vt.edu/enviro2/gwprimer/bacteria/bacteria.html
Biological Time clock Experiments: http://www.cbt.virginia.edu/Olh/
Environmental Education: Internet Resources: http://www.wcupa.edu/library.fhg/recommnd/Environ.htm
Environmental Links: http://www.innovative-solutions.net/links.htm
Explore EE Links on the Internet: http://www.uwsp.edu/acad/wcee/links.htm
Hydrogeology and the Water Cycle: http://www.arch.cuhk.edu.hk/~patrick/slope/background_information/water_cycle.htm
Learn about Wetlands: http://athena.wednet.edu/curric/land/wetland/
Micro-organisms in Acid Rock Drainage: http://www.enviromine.com/ard/Microorganisms/roleof.htm
Mine Net: http://www.microserve.net/~doug/aciddra.html
NACD Links to Internet Resources: http://www.nacdnet.org/resources/links.htm#EviEd
National Watershed Focus: http://www.ctic.purdue.edu/KYW/Focus/Nov96.html
National Wildlife Federation: http://www.nwf.org/nwf/kids/cool/water2.html
Native American uses for Cattails: http://www.nativetech.org/cattail/cattail.htm
Natural Resource Conservation Service: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/
Passive Treatment Technologies for Treating AMD: http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/landrec/passtrt/passtrt.htm
Recycling and Solid Waste Management Resources: http://wayne-health.org/wc_recycling_info.html
Restoration of a Stream Degraded by AMD: http://wwwpah2o.er.usgs.gov/projects/amd/restoration.html
Save-Our-Streams, Stream Doctor Program: http://www.iwla.org/SOS/streamdo.html
Science Made Simple: http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/
The Environmental Education Network: http://www.envirolink.org/enviroed/content.html
The Water Page: http://www.thewaterpage.com/water-conservation.htm
The Young Scientist Introduction to Wetlands: http://www.wes.army.mil/el/wetlands/ysi.html
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: http://www.epa.gov/
U.S. EPA Region 3: Mountain top Mining: http://www.epa.gov/region3/mtntop/
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: http://www.fws.gov/
U.S. Geological Survey: Educational Resources: http://water.usgs.gov/education.html
U.S. Geological Survey: Programs in West Virginia: http://water.usgs.gov/wid/html/wv.html
USDA Backyard Conservation: http://www.fb-net.org/Backyard.htm
USDA: Watersheds and Wetlands Division: http://www.ftw.nrcs.usda.gov/programs.html
USGS National Wetlands Research Center: http://www.nwrc.nbs.gov/
USGS: New Techniques to Treat AMD: http://www.usgs.gov/tech-transfer/factsheets/FS-212-96.html
Volunteer Stream Monitoring: http://www.epa.gov/owow/monitoring/volunteer/stream/
Water Quality Modules: http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/waterq/wqacidmine.html
Watershed Education Links: http://www.adopt-a-watershed.org/aawlinks.htm
Watershed Education: http://stopnpp.com/educate/educate.htm
West Virginia Geology: http://129.71.2.20/www/geology/geology.htm
West Virginia Wetlands: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/8003/wvwet.html
Wetlands and People: http://psybergate.com/wetfix/ShareNet/Sharenet1/Share.htm
WV Division of Environmental Protection: http://www.dep.state.wv.us/
WV Division of Natural Resources: http://www.dnr.state.wv.us/default.htm
WV K-12 Rural Net Project: http://www.wvu.edu/~ruralnet/monitor/monitor.html
WV Nongame and Natural Heritage Program: http://www.dnr.state.wv.us/wvwildlife/nongame/default.htm
WVU: Acid Mine Treatment: http://www.wvu.edu/~research/techbriefs/acidminetechbrief.html
 

U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
URL of this page: https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2000/of00-369/
Contact: EERSC Team
Last modified: 01.04.12 (jmw)