Adding five droplets of carbonic acid into the aquarium lowered the pH from 7 to 5.5. This is because adding carbonic acid which is of acidic nature, as the name suggests affects the pH value of water which is normally neutral. The pH, therefore, falls from 7 to 5.5. Identify the three organisms you used. The three organisms whose species are under study in this aquarium include the aquatic earthworm, snail, and leech. For each organism, explain what effect the carbonic acid had on its population. Did the acid impact the population at all? To what extent? Before the addition of the carbonic acid droplets into the aquarium, the population size of all three organisms was 20 each. But upon the addition, all 20 snails died under the new pH. However, both the leech and aquatic earthworm populations were not affected at all by the change in water quality. Both species remained at 20 in number each. Use outside research to explain why the organisms you worked with are or are not susceptible to damage by carbonic acid and/or acid rain. Snails are susceptible to acidity in their aquatic habitat because the increased acidity in these environments lowers the amount of calcium carbonate available to aquatic animals. This mineral is important to snails because it helps animals to build shells or skeletons, without which such growth cannot take place. Snails cannot survive outside their shells. This is why corroded or weakened shells triggered by the addition of carbonic acid lead to their death. The earthworms and leech, on the other hand, have strong and impermeable membranes or outer coverings that are resistant to the toxification of the acidity introduced into the aquatic setting, especially when the said substance is of a weaker acidity, as is the case with the 1% carbonic acid.
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