Phosphorous

Day 50 July 10 – Phosphorous

Let me begin by explaining why my recent entries have not been so packed with information. First, I am nearing the end of my trip and I have learned the basics of all the relevant subjects. Second, my current project is working with my roommate Tim in caring for six ponds. This job does not require lots of time but enough that I cannot leave to go work with the other scientists here. While learning the science is important, actually being responsible for ponds is vital; perhaps even more important.

Today I once again got up early to go with Tim and take the dissolved oxygen levels of his ponds. Everything was fine so we headed back to the lab to perform a phosphorous test on water samples from each pond. We had planned on doing this test yesterday but were thwarted because there was not enough of a certain solution. So we made the missing solution but it had to sit for 24hours.

Today everything was ready so we began the test. The way this test works is you take a sample from each pond and put them into a spectrometer. The spectrometer is set to a certain frequency, 880nm, and the light is fired through the sample. The frequency used is specific to phosphorous and is interfered by it. The amount of phosphorus in the water can then be derived by measuring the amount of light lost as it travels through the sample.

This process might sound familiar because I talked about it a few weeks ago. This same process, using a spectrometer, can be used to measure many different materials in water samples.