Dominique Caldwell
E Block
Abstract
For “Planet in a Bottle”, several environments were going to be tested to see if life is
sustainable on any other planet than Earth. The planet that we were testing is Venus. Venus has a
very acidic and hot environment which means that the ingredients being put into the bottle were
different than other bottles. The Venus bottle proved that life was not sustainable and ended up
posing a vacuum sort of environment. The Earth bottle, which was the control bottle, showed
that life is sustainable and the balloon expanded to 4 cm. When a class average was taken, the
only two other planets that were able to sustain life were the Moon and Pluto. Our hypothesis
was proved right in this experiment because Venus proved to not be able to sustain life on it. For
further testing, more acidic liquids can be put in the bottle and the bottle can be put somewhere
where there is wind to symbolize the rough environment.
Introduction
As the second planet from the sun, Venus has a very hot surface temperature; it can range
anywhere from 500ᵒ C at its hottest to -32ᵒ C at its coldest. Its atmosphere is composed of carbon dioxide,
nitrogen, sulfuric acid, and other elements that don’t make up a majority. This creates thick clouds that
cover Venus. The clouds create a greenhouse effect that, in turn, makes the surface temperature so hot.
The surface of Venus consists of rocky, waterless mountains, canyons, and plains. It’s very dry and hot.
For life to be sustainable on a planet there needs to be a sustainable environment with the right
elements (SPONCH), a stable temperature, a star or something to provide an energy source, and a water
source. To create a sustainable environment to live on, the elements needed are, Sulfur, Phosphorus,
Phosphorus is used in the creation of cell membranes, ATP (energy) and bones. Oxygen is a major
element needed to live because it is used in making fats, carbohydrates, amino acids, enzymes and we
need it to breathe. Nitrogen is needed to create amino acids as well. Hydrogen is needed to produce
electron receptors and DNA. The temperature on the planet should be so that there are not many drastic
changes in the weather or temperature. The planet must be near a star that is able to produce energy and
heat. Our bodies are more than 70% water; to maintain our health, there must be a water source on the
planet.
The search for other planets that can sustain life like ours has been going on for a while. These
planets are known as “Goldilocks Planets”, meaning they aren’t too close to their host star or too far.
Being too close to the host star means that water cannot exist without evaporating; being too far from the
star can mean that water will freeze. To find these Goldilocks planets, scientists are using different
methods. One of these methods is called “The Wobble Method”. This method shows the stars effect on
the planet orbiting it. As the planet would near the star, gravity would have a push and pull effect which
caused the planet to make sort of a wave pattern in its orbit. The other method involves slight eclipses
(transits). This method used telescopes and stars that had planets orbiting it. The telescope would take
pictures where the planet would be crossing the path of the star and the telescope. This allowed the
scientists to study the star and planet itself.
Yeast is a simple unicellular fungus that is used for many different things and dates back to nearly
4,000 years in the past. The most common use for yeast is in baking and brewing. Two pounds of yeast
can be used to raise five hundred pounds of bread. Yeast is being used in this experiment because, like
most fungi, it releases carbon dioxide if there is oxygen. The yeast symbolizes human life in the bottle. If
the yeast is able to survive, they will release carbon dioxide which will float into and increase the size of
It is hypothesized that the yeast will not be able to survive the environment Venus poses. Given
that of what is needed to survive, the air will be too acidic and the environment itself will be too hot to
give the yeast enough oxygen to survive. The yeast might even boil or die in the hot and acidic
environment.
Materials
Earth bottle:
1 cup lukewarm water
3 sugar cubes
1 quarter- oz package of yeast
1 empty plastic bottle
1 nine- ten inch party balloon
1 cloth measuring tape
1 small funnel (optional)
Venus bottle:
1 cup scalding orange juice
Lemon juice or vinegar (optional)
1 quarter- oz package of yeast
1 empty plastic bottle
1 nine- ten inch party balloon
1 cloth measuring tape
Methods
Earth bottle
Mix water and sugar in bottle until the cubes are dissolved
Using the funnel, add yeast and gently swirl the mixture
Cap the bottle using a balloon
Use the cloth measuring tape to measure the circumference of the balloon every 15
minutes
Venus bottle
Warm the orange juice until it is scalding hot
Pour the mixture into the bottle
Add lemon juice or vinegar(optional)
Using the funnel, add yeast and gently swirl the mixture
Cap the bottle using a balloon
Use the cloth measuring tape to measure the circumference of the balloon every 15
Besides Earth, the only other two planets that sustained the yeast were the moon and
Pluto. This did not make sense because neither of them have an atmosphere. When we put our
bottles for Earth and Venus to sit, Venus began to inflate but after time, got sucked inwards into
the bottle. For future application of this experiment, different acidic liquids can be put into the
bottle along with acidic nutrients to symbolize the acidic environment Venus presents.
Discussion
Venus would not be a good planet to live on because it has such a high surface
temperature and such an acidic environment. The results showed that Venus could support life,
but for only five minutes and then its environment basically simulates a vacuum. Our hypothesis
was proved right and human life cannot be sustained on Venus. The acidic air would be toxic to
our respiration system; along with that, the atmosphere is so thick that Venus is basically a giant
because it would either cause humans to burn up or freeze to death. The limits to this test were
not being able to simulate how windy Venus is. To further this experiment, more acidic liquids
can be used to represent the acidity in the air as well as putting the water bottle in a hot
environment to simulate the greenhouse effect that Venus posts.
Literature Cited
Nova scienceNOW. Dir. Samuel Fine. Perf. Dave Charbonneau, Neil deGrasse Tyson, LisaKaltenegger, Geoff Marcy. PBS: 2009. Film.7
http://www.bibme.org/
