Does rock salt I use on my driveway negatively affect lawns

Name:

Date:

Assignment: Unit 1 Individual project

Does the rock salt used as ice melt on my driveway effect my lawns growth?
Introduction:
Being from Ma cold climate, We tend to have rather harsh winters, Ice melt in some sodium form or other is regularly used to de-ice walkways and driveways. When comparing different products available, most ingredients include Sodium Chloride or Calcium Chloride. Salt, lowers the freezing temperature of water, thereby making it more difficult to refreeze. Often times, you find dead grass along the walkways and sidewalks after winter, some people attribute this to the ice melt used. Do rock salt and other deicers negatively affect lawns? That is what we will answer in this paper.

Hypothesis:
Grass is negatively affected by use of ice melting products, due to the sodium.
Prediction:
If rock salt and other ice melt products are over used, it will negatively affect the lawn by burning the grass, and causing some of it to die.
Controlled Experimental Method: Because it is winter here in Montana, and doing this experiment outside on my lawn would present far too many variables, I researched ways of conducting this experiment with minimal amount of variables. Dr. Muriel Gerhard did a similar experiment for kids and posted her methods on the website education.com. I based my methods for this experiment on her experiment. I purchased good quality sod; I cut the sod into 6 squares measuring 6 inches each. I placed each square of sod in a separate clear growing tray; this will allow the sod to continue to breathe grow as it would normally. I labeled 2 of the growing trays “Rock Salt”, 2 of them “Ice Melt”, and 2 of them “Control”. The trays of Sod were placed on my front porch, where they would all get equal amount of