Part I (1 class period): LD-50 of Copper sulfate with black worms Background Information:

The dose makes the poison. Paracelsus said this in the 1500s, when he was studyin medicine and
to!icolo y, and because of this he is often considered the father of toxicology. What he did mean by this? Paracelsus reali"ed that many substances can be both beneficial and harmful to humans, dependin on their dose, or how much of it is consumed# $or e!ample, if you take one Advil it might help your headache, but if you took a whole bottle it might poison you. %ince the toxicity, or harmful effects, of a substance is often determined by its dose, scientists need to test what dose of &arious chemicals can be harmful to humans in order to re ulate them# 'b&iously scientists can not directly test to!icity on humans, so this is usually done in the laboratory with rats or mice# %cientists will i&e a population of rats or mice different doses (concentrations) of the chemical in (uestion, and obser&e chan es in beha&ior in the rats or mice# 'ne of the important pieces of data the scientists collect is called the L !"# $Lethal ose! "#% of the chemical, which is the concentration )or dose* of the chemical where "#& of the rat or mice population dies upon e!posure# %imilarly, they also often determine the ' !"# $'ffective ose! "#%, which is the concentration of the chemical where they see ne ati!e affects in "#$ of the population# +hese two &alues help scientists to determine which le&els of chemicals are safe to use in humans, and safe to ha&e in the en&ironment# +here are many chemicals present in the en&ironment that are re ulated# Certain metals such as merc%ry, arsenic, lead and copper are &ery harmful to humans and are often present in polluted waters and soils# ,n order to determine is water is safe for recreational use, drinkin , and other uses, metal concentrations ha&e to be below a certain limit set by the local o&ernment# 'ften, these le&els are based on e!periments done by scientists to determine the L !"## ,n this lab, you will be the scientist tryin to determine the le&el of copper that mi ht be safe to ha&e in a local water source# -ou will determine the L !"#, and ' !"# of blackworms in freshwater with &arious copper concentrations, and answer follow-up (uestions related to your in&esti ation# .rite two initial (uestions you mi ht ha&e about this lab before be innin # +his can be anythin related to the lab, blackworms, or copper in the en&ironment# Initial (uestions: 1. At what dose will worms react to the copper. &. How fast will the worms begin to die. )b*ectives: Calculate and titrate &arious concentrations of copper s%lfate ('%()*) Collect and raph data for mortality rate of increasin concentrations of copper s%lfate with blackworms /sin copper testin kits to et a baseline readin for copper &alues in water samples /sin data, determine the L !"# and threshold values of copper sulfate for blackworms +aterials: %tock 0#0005 1 copper sulfate solution Distilled water 2raduated cylinders - for class use 5 petri dishes )capable of holdin at least 05 mL*- each student group 2rease pencil 50 blackworms- each student group +imer- each student group ,rocedures: 1# Lay out each petri dish on your bench top and pre!label them with the followin concentrations usin the rease pencil3 1. #$ '%()* &. #.#1$ '%()* +. #.1$ '%()* raph

*. 1$ '%()* ". 1#$ '%()*

0# Place &&." m, of distilled -ater into the #, #.#1, #.1, 1 and 1#$ '%()* petri dishes# -ou will be doin
a serial dilution for the Cu%'4 concentrations in this lab# +o start, add 0#5 mL of the '%()* standard (fo%nd on the lab bench for the class to share) to the 1#$ '%()* petri dish# 5e!t, take 0#5 mL of the 106 Cu%'4 petri dish and place it in the 16 dish# +hen take 0#5 mL of the 16 dish and place it in the 0#16 Cu%'4 petri dish# +hen take 0#5 mL of the 0#16 dish and place it in the 0#016 Cu%' 4 petri dish +ake 0#5 mL from the 0#016 dish and discard that into the waste bin# .ll the beakers sho%ld no- ha!e &&." m, of sol%tion in them# 7# Place 1# black-orms into the #, #.#1, #.1, 1 and 1#$ '%()* sol%tions and record your initial obser&ations into the table below in the column labeled Initial Observations# 2ently prod and poke the blackworms and note how they mo&e, etc### )bser!e them for abo%t 1 min%te. 5e!t, obser&e the blackworms after ", 1#, 1", &# and +# min%tes# 8ecord your obser&ations for each petri dish in the columns labeled with the appropriate time# 5ote how many blackworms in each treatment are mo&in , and how they look# Be specific and -uantitative. $or e!ample, you mi ht record for the 16 solution that 5 of the worms are mo&in , and 4 are clumped to ether, and 1 has died# At the end of the class period, count how many blackworms have died and record that in the column labeled ./inal.0