ENV 107L

Environmental Science Lab

Class 1
 OUTLINE
• Basic components of environment
• Basic laboratory rules and safety
• Basics of scientific methods
Basic Components of Environment
 What is Environment?
• Origin: From the French word Environner which means
surround
• Can be defined as (1) the circumstances and conditions
that surround an organism or a group of organisms; or (2)
the social and cultural conditions that affect an individual
or a community
 Types of Environment
• Natural environment: encompasses all living and non-living things
occurring naturally on Earth
– Includes all Biotic factors i.e. plants, animals, microorganisms; and
Abiotic factors i.e. minerals, rocks and magma, water bodies, and
atmospheric layers

• Built environment: part of the physical environment which is built by

humans through science, technology, culture etc
– Includes places and spaces created or modified by people i.e.
buildings, parks, transportation systems etc
Figure: Components of Environment
6
Basic laboratory rules and safety
 List of Do's and Don'ts in the Laboratory

• Students are not permitted to enter into the lab without the
permission of laboratory supervisor or course instructor.
• All students must be aware of the conditions required for the
safe handling of chemical substances, specimens, samples and
other equipment. For details, seek guidance from the
laboratory instructor / laboratory supervisor.
• Laboratory should be in clean condition after using it. No waste
is to be left in the sinks. Waste (i.e. chemical, biological or items
such as broken glass, hand gloves) should be place in the
marked bins in the laboratory.
 List of Do's and Don'ts in the Laboratory

• Defective equipment or broken glassware must be reported to the

tutor.
• Drinking and eating is not allowed inside the lab.
• Wash hands properly before leaving the laboratory.
• Personal belongings (i.e. Bags) should be placed in designated
areas.
• Report any kind of injuries to the instructor
Basics of Scientific Methods
Steps in a Scientific Investigation – the Scientific Method
Hypothesis

• A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is an assumption
• It is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. 
• For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method
requires that one can test it.
• Example: Redwood trees produce few seeds since they need to put
more energy into survival to live so long.
1. Redwood trees are very tall, old trees
2. Cones of these trees are very small & have few seeds

Redwood trees produce few seeds since they need to put

more energy into survival to live so long.

Count the growth rings of the redwood tree to determine

how old it is and count seeds and compare to other trees.

There is no relationship Older trees have

between age and seed fewer and/or smaller
number or size. seeds.
Figure: Tree ring
Data Analysis
Data Analysis(Contd..)
 Data Analysis(Contd..)
• Conversion: Another very important issue about data representation is the use
of accurate conversion of the measurement units. For example, if there are six
apples in a basket and their weights are: 20 gm, 0.015 kg, 25 gm, 18 gm, 21 gm
and 23 gm; what would be the average weight, or arithmetic mean in gm?
Then you have to convert all the weights in gm unit.

• In reality, our experimental area is much smaller than the area we’ll use our
hypothesis for. For example, if we are studying the water chemistry of the Bay
of Bengal, It would be very difficult to test every cubic centimetre of the sea.
Therefore, we take small representative unit and later scale or translate the
result for the whole area.

• For any experiment, you can choose your sample randomly but the larger the
unbiased random sample, the better the estimate. The calculation of
“Median” is also very important. Sometimes the “Median” gives better
representation than the “Mean” value.
Graphing
• In each study there is one dependent variable and one or more
independent variables.

• The dependent variable is affected by what happens to the

independent variable.

• In a graph, the dependent variable is on the vertical (Y) axis and

the independent variable is on the horizontal axis (X).
Anatomy of a Line Graph
Anatomy of a Table
 Experimental Section
Name of Exp: Analyze the ecological condition of a pond and make
comments on it.

Introduction:
For this lab exercise, students will form different groups, where each group
will have a box containing marbles of differing colours. The boxes will
represent any arbitrary part of the environment, for example, a random
sample of water from Hakaluki Haor, and the different colored marbles will
represent different species of fish.
Materials required:
1. Box of different coloured marbles, mixed together more-or-less randomly
2. Containers of assorted sizes (50mL, 100mL, 250mL)
3. Calculator
 Procedure:
1. Students work in group. Each group will select a beaker and fill it with
marbles of different colors, and observe it.
2. Work together to develop a hypothesis about the distribution of colors in
your sample of marbles.
3. Decide what type of observation needs to be done to address your
hypothesis,
4. Come up with an experiment of how you would test your hypothesis.
5. Carry out your data collection by counting the marbles that your group has
collected and filling in Table 1.1 – the marbles can be used to represent the
variables that will be needed to test your group’s hypothesis.
6. Carry out data analysis by looking at your Tables 1.1 & 1.2
7. Read over the questions and work in groups of two to discuss and then
answer all the questions for this lab. You should have a working draft of your
lab report before you leave the lab class; the introduction and conclusion
paragraphs can be added later along with your finishing touches.
 
Questions
Q1. Fill in data Table 1.1 using the data collected by your group and all your
classmates. In the last row of the table, give the average values (arithmetic mean)
for each column.

Q2. Fill in data Table 1.2 using the data collected by your group and the rest of your
classmates.

Q3. Look at your hypothesis; were you able to address your hypothesis with the data
collected? Was your hypothesis supported, or not, by the data? What other data
would be useful in testing your hypothesis?
 
Q4. What percentage of the total number of marbles in YOUR sample was each of the
colours? Make a bar chart of the percentages of each colour in your sample. Be
sure to label your graph properly in Microsoft Excel.

Q5. Make a bar chart for the average class data showing the percentages of each
colour marble.
Questions(Contd..)
Q6. How does your data compare with the class average? What is different or the
same about the two data sets? If there are differences, why do you think there are
differences? 

Q7. Assuming your sample in the small container is a representative sample, what
would be the expected percentage of green marbles in the large container you took
the samples from? 

Q8. If there are 4528 marbles in the large container in the front of the room, a) how
many marbles would you predict would be blue based on your sample, and b) how
many marbles would you predict would be blue based on the class average?

Q9. If your sample contained 1000 litres of water from Hakaluki Haor and the volume
of Hakaloki Haor is 125,000,000 cubic meters, and each of the marbles represents
fish of that colour, how many blue fishes would you expect to find in the whole Haor
based on your sampling? Be sure to include your calculations in your answer. 
Results
Table 1. Number of various species of fish
collected from the pond
Group No Total no of No of No of No of No of No of No of
fish Bai-la Baim Batasi Bhol catfish prawn

1 11 4 1 3 0 1 2

2 20 5 2 5 1 5 2

Total 31 9 3 8 1 6 4

Average 15.5 4.5 1.5 4 0.5 3 2

Table 2. Percentage of various species of fish
collected from the pond

Group No Total % of % of Bai-la % of Baim % of Batasi % of Bhol % of % of Prawn

fish catfish

1 35.48 36.36

2 64.51

Total 29.03

Average%
Comments

Best 8
Better 7
Very good 6
Good 5
Moderate 4
Fair 3
Bad 2
Worst 1
Thank you 