Names: Elizabeth Hill and Margaret Ellis-Young

Grade Category: 7-9

Subject Area: Health/Sport Science

Project Type: Experimental

Language: English

Summary: To tackle the controversial issue around pesticides and their presence on produce, an experiment was designed to find the best way to remove them.  To imitate pesticides, we used two different fluorescent dyes and applied them to apples.  The dye was then washed off using different washes and samples were taken to measure the concentration of dye in each rinse.  Washes used were distilled water, dish detergent and water, 50/50 water and vinegar and commercial fruit wash and water, as well as no wash at all, which was the control.  The testing was conducted in a lab at Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, with the assistance of Tom Wolf and Brian Caldwell.  After the experiment, we were able to conclude that a dish detergent and water solution worked the best to remove overall to remove the fluorescent dye.  This experiment actually had reasonable results, which could be applied to pesticide removal and be useful in households. 

Software Tools: Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Microsoft Word, Firefox, Safari

Hardware Tools: Digital Camera, a lab and lab equipment (including a Spectrofluorophotometer)

Source of Idea: We were interested in doing a Health Science related project and Elizabeth's mom thought of the idea of doing something related to produce and pesticides.

Special Skills: None

Awards:

1st Place in Intermediate Health Sciences at Saskatoon Regional Science Fair (2008)

Dr. Eleanor Wegner Award at Saskatoon Regional Science Fair (2008)