Why Do Duckweed Grow

The results support the hypothesis, the amount of duckweed in the containers with vinegar might have decreased due to the low pH level of the vinegar. The vinegar used in the experiment had an acidity of 5% and a pH level of 2.4, which but duckweed need a pH level of 6-7 in order to survive (McClung, 2013). The vinegar was too acidic for the duckweed to grow in, resulting in containers one and two turning white and decreasing in size faster than container three which only contained tap water.

An explanation for why all three containers had a decrease in duckweed is that there was no oxygen added to them. Duckweed needs oxygen in order to grow, and since there was no oxygen constantly added to the containers they turned anaerobic resulting in death (“Growing Duckweed,” 2015). The duckweed might have also died due to the lack of surface area they had in the containers, since the more surface area there is the more duckweed grows. Duckweed only need a few inches of water to grow, but need as much space possible in order to spread out and grow (“Growing Duckweed,” 2015). All three duckweed containers were narrow, causing the duckweed to crowd around each other and not be able to spread out.

As a result of being in a narrow container, there was nowhere for the duckweed to seek protection from the constant exposure to light. Duckweed tend to bleach as a result of too much light exposure and prefer to grow on surfaces where they can seek protection from shade (“Growing Duckweed,” 2015). Another error in the experiment was not testing the quality of the water. Tap water was used, as opposed to distilled water that is boiled to remove contaminants and chemicals or purified water that has most harmful substances removed (French, n.d.). An impurity or chemical in the tap water might have contributed to the death of the