Water Quality B/C

[Chiweenie]

Do any of you guys know which answer I should go with?


10. This weak acid (from the previous question) results in “average” rain having a pH
of approximately ___________ at typical atmospheric conditions.
a. 6.3
b. 7.0
c. 5.6
d. 8.1


In the 2012 Nationals test, the answer is a. In the 2013 Nationals test, the answer is c.

[coopsadoodles]

Do any of you guys know which answer I should go with?


10. This weak acid (from the previous question) results in “average” rain having a pH
of approximately ___________ at typical atmospheric conditions.
a. 6.3
b. 7.0
c. 5.6
d. 8.1


In the 2012 Nationals test, the answer is a. In the 2013 Nationals test, the answer is c.

Personally i'd go with c as it is more recent and things may have changed. if you want a more accurate answer do some research

[Girlpower05]

you can make one with a paint dropper (from a craft store like hobby lobby) instead of an eye dropper and add stability to it by adding poster tack like a cone at the bottom. add weight by adding sugar or very fine sand inside. bigger the bulb and smaller the narrow part above will give you enough spacing. the one we used gave us accurate readings every time.

Thank you for sharing your idea for a salinometer. I tried it out and it was really successful with markings spread out over an inch. We were able to place second in this event in our very competitive States.

[bp31000]

you can make one with a paint dropper (from a craft store like hobby lobby) instead of an eye dropper and add stability to it by adding poster tack like a cone at the bottom. add weight by adding sugar or very fine sand inside. bigger the bulb and smaller the narrow part above will give you enough spacing. the one we used gave us accurate readings every time.

Thank you for sharing your idea for a salinometer. I tried it out and it was really successful with markings spread out over an inch. We were able to place second in this event in our very competitive States.

glad i could be of help! congratulations on your placement!

[JionPark]

In the 2019 rules, there was a section that was for Division C. The content was called life history strategies, and it was only going to be on States and Nationals. How would you be able to prepare for it?

[kate!]

In the 2019 rules, there was a section that was for Division C. The content was called life history strategies, and it was only going to be on States and Nationals. How would you be able to prepare for it?

What is mentioned in the rules as examples of life history strategies are age structure, survival curves, life tables, succession, and R and K strategies. Basically, they're just asking you to have more in-depth ecology knowledge than a division B competitor would need. If you did Ecology last year, that would help, but if you didn't, then just search up those concepts and add relevant definitions to your notesheet. I don't think they'll ask questions that are simply about ecological principles, but they will probably apply these principles to freshwater ecology, so it's important to familiarize yourself with them.

[Chiweenie]

Do we have to know the q value charts or will they give them to us?

[gz839918]

Do we have to know the q value charts or will they give them to us?

If there are any questions about Q-values, the test will almost certainly include conversion charts, since it's much too difficult to memorize every last one of them or to pack all of them into a single notes sheet.

Even if the ES expects competitors to have these memorized, I'd imagine that everybody would miss the Q-value questions, so you and your partner wouldn't be negatively affected any more than any other team. If everybody missed the Q-value questions, it would be as though the questions didn't exist, so I would suggest not worrying about it.

[hmmm]

What did you guys get for the salinity at nats?
I guessed 2.9

[Fridaychimp]

What did you guys get for the salinity at nats?
I guessed 2.9

For Div. C I think the values were about 2.2% and 5.0% for beaker A and B, respectively.