Tianna Gray

LD50 Lab

Introduction:
The initial question for this lab, what is LD50, is the main point that we are
experimenting on. LD50 is the standard measurement of acute toxicity that is in
milligrams or the lethal does that kills 50% of the subject. A dose responsive cure is
a curve plotting the relationship between the dose of a drug administered and its
pharmacological effect. A serial dilution is a stepwise dilution of a substance in a
solution, with a constant dilution factor. We are using this in the lab by taking the
salt water and diluting it by half of the amount of distilled water repeatedly 4 times.
One tube contains only salt water and the last one only has distilled water. Salt is
applies to highways because it lowers the freezing point of water and melts the
snow to keep it from being slick.
Problem:
What is the LD50 of salt for radish seeds?
How does salt affect the initial growth of radish plants?
Hypothesis:
If the salt concentration is increase then the germination of the seeds will be
decreased because of the salt stopping the plant from absorbing the water.
Parts

of the Experiment:
Independent variable- Salt
Dependent variable- how many seeds germinate and how well they grow
Control- Distilled water

Materials & Methods:

Using 20 ml of the original concentration of salt, perform a serial dilution to

create five different salt concentrations, plus a sixth with plain water.

Count out 60 seeds, 10 for each water sample

Put 10 seeds into a folded paper towel, space the seeds out evenly on the
paper
towel so that they do not touch each other

Wet the paper towel/seeds and seal in a baggie, be sure to label the bags
with the salt concentration for that sample

After 4-5 days examine the seeds, counting the number of each that
germinated

Tianna Gray

For the germinated seeds, measure the length of the radicle

Data:
Jordan
Kendall
Melba
Sophia

Group 2 (names)
Amber
Samantha
Maggie
Logan L.

Group 3
(names)
Kylee
Christina
Logan
Julianne

100%
18 g/L
50%
9 g/L
25%
4.5 g/L
12.5%
2.25 g/L
6.25%
1.25 g/L
0%
0 g/L control

20

.45

90

2.7

80

3.8

90

3.1

80

2.5

90

3.9

Salt
Concentration
100%
18 g/L
50%
9 g/L
25%
4.5 g/L
12.5%
2.25 g/L
6.25%
1.25 g/L
0%
0 g/L control

% Germinated
100

Mean Radicle
length
6

90

16.9

100

17.7

100

38.6

100

39.4

100

35.4

Salt
Concentration
100%
18 g/L
50%
9 g/L
25%
4.5 g/L
12.5%
2.25 g/L
6.25%
1.25 g/L

% Germinated
100

Mean Radicle
length
17.4mm

100

9.7mm

50

2.2mm

70

1.5mm

100

17.9mm

Tianna Gray

Group 4
(names)
Andrew
Fatou
Julia
Alex

Group 5
(names)
Lauren
Livi
Miky
Youjin
Renee

Group 6
(names)

0%
0 g/L control

30

1mm

Salt
Concentration
100%
18 g/L
50%
9 g/L
25%
4.5 g/L
12.5%
2.25 g/L
6.25%
1.25 g/L
0%
0 g/L control

% Germinated
90%

Mean Radicle
length
5.22mm

90%

2.78mm

90%

6.89

100%

4.1mm

100%

40.7mm

90%

9mm

Salt
Concentration
100%
18 g/L
50%
9 g/L
25%
4.5 g/L
12.5%
2.25 g/L
6.25%
1.25 g/L
0%
0 g/L control

% Germinated
50%

Mean Radicle
length
0.2mm

100%

3.6mm

70%

4.3mm

90%

6.3mm

90%

6.1mm

90%

5.1mm

Salt
Concentration

% Germinated

Mean Radicle
length

Tianna Gray
Matt
Lauren
Devin
Bailey
Jared

Group 7
(names)
Jerrel
Madison
JP
Taylor

Group 8
(names)
Tianna
Evan
Sydney

100%
18 g/L
50%
9 g/L
25%
4.5 g/L
12.5%
2.25 g/L
6.25%
1.25 g/L
0%
0 g/L control

100%

3.3mm

100%

14.7mm

100%

32.5mm

100%

33.2mm

100%

52.8mm

90%

50.3mm

Salt
Concentration
100%
18 g/L
50%
9 g/L
25%
4.5 g/L
12.5%
2.25 g/L
6.25%
1.25 g/L
0%
0 g/L control

% Germinated
60%

Mean Radicle
length
.6mm

100%

14mm

100%

26.1mm

100%

36.9mm

100%

47mm

100%

32.3mm

Salt
Concentration
100%
18 g/L
50%
9 g/L
25%

% Germinated
20%

Mean Radicle
length
3mm

100%

12.6mm

100%

12.4mm

Tianna Gray

Michael

4.5 g/L
12.5%
2.25 g/L
6.25%
1.25 g/L
0%
0 g/L control

90%

4.9mm

100%

71.1mm

60%

4mm

Tianna Gray

Data Analysis:
Over the course of the week of letting our seeds germinate, we had to re water our
seeds a couple times because our water kept evaporating. So after the week we
finally checked all our seeds to see how much they germinated and grew. So
throughout our classes data it is easy to be seen that most of all of our batches of
seeds had 100% growth from every dilution group. The only set of seeds that had a
small percentage of growth would be between the 100% salt concentration and
slightly with the 50% concentration. Surprisingly the average salt concentration that
had the highest percentage germinated and the highest mean radical length overall
was the 6.25% salt concentration level. The data overall had a nice average amount
of seeds that germinated, so they werent really affected by the salt concentration,
other than the 100% salt water.
Conclusion:
My hypothesis came out to be correct because of the fact that the seeds with the
higher salt concentration had hardly any germination. The LD50 that came out of
our overall experiment was
50mm. Using the line of best fit from our data this is
what it came out to be. Salt affected the growth by absorbing all of the water and
leaving none for the plants. The salt also tampers with the nutrients for the plants
and stops the seed from getting them. This can also relate to one of our introduction
questions that talk about salt on the roads when it gets icy. Although this prevents
dangers on the road when the salt washes off the road it kills the surrounding plant
life. Also it can run off with the melted ice into streams of water and cause damage
to those ecosystems as well.

Tianna Gray

Works Cited

"Lethal Dosage (LD50) Values." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 12 Feb.
2015.
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.
"Serial Dilution." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.
"Why Do We Put Salt on Icy Roads?" Mental Floss. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.