Second trimester; Biosphere Project

At the beggining of this trimester we started planning how we would develop the actual investigation and experimentation of our project. Thats when we realized that what we had planned to do with controlling the water cycle wouldnt really be possible to meassure and observe. So after much thought, We decided to change the concept of our project to be able have a project which could be investigated and observed fully in the lab.

The backbone of our project will now be to create a sustainable biosphere.

During the first weeks of work, before the start of winter vacations, we started planning how we would set up the experiment in the lab We used  a big tank and filled it with soil, We left a space in the center left side of the tank, were we inserted a tupperware filled with water to create a water cycle inside the biosphhere. We planted lentils and chickpeas annd watched them grow during the weeks of work.

The tank is being shined with light by a lamp positioned to the right of it. We have been controlling the light with a timer so that the tank will only get 10 hours of ''sun light'' to simmulate the time of sunlight they would get in an outside environment.

The tank is positioned next to a window, ecause there is no other available space, but this means there is outside factors affecting the biosphere. The humidity and cold from the winter weather outside the lab is causing some sides of the tank to have a higher level of water condensation. And there is also outside light reaching iinto the biosphere.

We also were planning on introducing animals into the biosphere but we havent been able to insert them yet. In the end we have decided to do a first test of the biosphere only with the plants, see how they grow and live in a controlled biosphere all alone. At some point they will start to die and we will calculate how long it took and the possible reasons for this. Then we will repeat the biosphere with different factors inside, and with smalll animals as well.