HomeMy WebLinkAboutMicroplastic Worksheet 2-16-20211. How many macro/microplastics did
you have in your sample?
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2. What colors were they?
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3. Where do you think these
macro/microplastics came from?
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4. What is the definition of a
microplastic/plastic microfiber?
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5. What will you change in your life
after learning about microplastics?
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MI CROPLASTICS I N
THE ENVIRONMENT
LAB PR O TOC O L :
1. Collect a random sample from the
rack line using a 0.25 x 0.25 meter
quadrat. Collect the top quarter of
an inch of sand.
2. Pour sample onto paper plate, pick
out pieces of organic matter (pine
needles, shell, grass, et.) with
tweezers and place onto a petri dish.
Also pick out visible pieces of plastic
and place them on a separate petri
dish.
Q U ES TI O N S:
Name Date
3. Scoop a table spoon sized lump of
the sand into a 16oz cup and fill
3/4ths the way full of water. Stir
sample for 30 seconds and let settle
for 2 minutes, this will allow for the
microplastics to rise to the surface.
4. Pour sample through separatory
funnel, making sure not to pour sand
into the funnel. Allow to settle for 1
minute. Once particles stop moving,
drain off bottom half of sample into
sandy cup, and the top portion of the
sample into a clean cup. Rinse funnel
into clean cup.
M ICR OPLAS TIC FAC T S:
1. Every year, 8 million metric tons of
plastic end up in our oceans. It's
equivalent to five grocery bags filled
with plastic for every foot of coastline in
the world. In 2025, the annual input is
estimated to be about twice greater, or
10 bags full of plastic per foot of
coastline.
2. Many of our clothes contain plastics
like polyester, nylon, acrylic and
polyamide. In fact most new fabrics are
made of plastic – up to 64% of them.
Your fleece jacket is made from this stuff.
3. Microplastic are particles of plastic
below 5mm in size. A microfiber is a
plastic-based thread that is thinner than
a human hair.
LA B PR OTO C OL :
Name Date
6. Place your petri dish with your filter
on it under the microscope and look for
microplastics. Microplastics will tend to
be colored and are rounded in shape
or string/thread like. To the left is an
example of a plastic microfiber.
5. Take your sample and pour it on the
0.45 micron filter on top of the vacuum
flask and turn the vacuum pump on. Any
microplastics in the sample will not be
stuck on the filter. Place the filter on a
clean petri dish.
4. Microfibers have been found in air,
rivers, soil, drinking water, and table salt.
5. Most plastic items with a recycling
symbol are actually not recyclable at all.
Check with your County's solid waste
staff to learn what is recyclable in your
community.
6. Styrene (what polystyrene is made out
of) residues are found in 100% of all
samples of human fat tissue.
Polystyrene is made using the monomer,
Styrene, an animal carcinogen and a
possible human carcinogen and
neurotoxin. Styrene can migrate from
polystyrene containers into food and
beverages when heated, or in contact
with fatty or acidic foods.
7. Three to five million microfibers pass
through our body in a day, this equates
to five grams or a credit card worth of
plastic a week.
8. One study found that microplastics
have made their way into human
placentas on both the mothers side and
the baby's side.
9. A Portland State University study found
microplastics in razor clams destined for
the dinner table. Other studies have
found microplastics in fish and other
seafood.
10. Lost fishing gear is estimated to
make up 10% of ocean plastic pollution
but forms the majority of large plastic
littering the waters.