[Week 2]:The Elements of What I Enjoy
This week was comprised of a tedious but very important aspect of a research project: learning some background knowledge. The day I begged Dr. Hamdan to let me assist her research, she sent me a multitude of publications so I could gain a basic knowledge of what heavy metal contamination consists of. While not the most exciting way to learn, its a practice I need to become familiar with. Reading publications sounds straight forward however, I am not a seasoned scientist with a PhD. Nor am I laid back enough to just read something without fully understanding it. Therefore, whenever I came across terminology, techniques, and concepts I was unaware of I would stop and find online material to read regarding it. By the time I finished researching, I had spent approximately 10 hours in the library and various coffee shops.
So that we are all on the same page, I will summarize some of the interesting things I've learned from the above stack of publications.
While my particular project is analyzing the heavy metal travel from ammunition cartridges, it needs to be established that heavy metal contamination can occur just about anywhere for a myriad of reasons. For example, one of the papers detailed a study conducted in Hong Kong, which explored contamination in urban parks compared to rural parks. The study did not look at ammunition at all, however there is high urban activity like traffic. Li, Poon, and Liu (2001) looked at soil samples from parks all over Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula, and the New Territories.
Their results showed that there was consistently high contamination in commercial and industrial areas, but for specific metals (e.g. Cd). However, they strongly consider that this may be due to the frequent usage of Cd containing phosphatic fertilizer, not necessarily car tires or oils (as their study focused on roadways). There where high concentrations of Zn, however I learned that Zn is pretty interesting from my next publication.
Researchers at the University of Texas at El Paso studied the ability of alfalfa seeds to germinate and grow in soil containing heavy metals. The soils they tested contained heavy metals concentrations ranging from 0, 5, 10, 20 and 40 ppm (Peralta, 2001). The results showed an interesting phenomenon called Hormesis. This is a process when smaller doses of a substance are beneficial to an organism, while higher doses are harmful or toxic (Mattson, 2002).
In Peralta's case, small doses (5- 10 ppm) actually increased the root size of the alfalfa plants, while 20-40 ppm killed most of the plants as seeds by the second week. However, regardless of concentration within soil, Zn (II) did not reduce seed germination, let alone root growth, even at 40 ppm! This may not seem crazy, but considering that the study found majority of the heavy metals to significantly affect the plants at these levels its interesting that Zn (II) does not appear in interfere.
This reflected certain results from research conducted on two major shooting ranges at Zuchwil and Oberuzwil in Switzerland. Researchers studying the ability of a symbiotic fungi, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM), to attach to the roots of local Ribwort plantain (Mozafar, 2001). In short, these fungi can increase the water and nutrient absorption of a plant in return for essential carbohydrates generated in photosynthesis (Brundrett, 2002). Their study involved collecting soil samples near the up-range safety area (designated HOUSE), the 300m range itself (FIELD), then near the berm (BACKSTOP). Their results showed Zn to have the lowest negative correlation to fungi covered root lengths. While they acknowledge in a natural setting it is difficult to concretely ascribe effects to a single metal, they further mention other researching findings that many fungi's ability to adapt to high levels of Zn and Cd.
That's digging through the weeds a bit (pun intended), however it illustrates how complex trying to isolate the cause and effects of heavy metal contamination is. I'm very excited to learn more about metals and the process of research. But most importantly I thought this was appropriate to explain because while my research project will be analyzing heavy metal contamination from ammunition, I (and the more qualified scientists listed below), am very much aware that HM contamination can come from any source. Furthermore, nature has a way of making sure it continues on and has been proven to adapt regardless of what humans do. I am looking at the relationship between heavy metals found in ammunition and the soil surrounding it, simply because I enjoy learning about metals and ammunition as well.
Perhaps I feel the need to defend this as someone close to me expressed slight annoyance and suspicion that this project was funded by an anti-gun group and that I was looking for reasons to restrict citizen's 2nd amendment right through science. This is definitely not the case and should be irrelevant but I'll explain regardless. Foremost, I am only a casual shooter. I rarely shoot in the desert on unmarked ranges because I myself get lazy about picking up my brass and I prefer a more safe and controlled environment when using my firearms.
I have nothing against gun owners, all of my family and I casually shoot. We also like to camp, hike, and fish. Point is: we enjoy the outdoors. And so do most of my friends and acquaintances. I think that those of us who are responsible gun owners and outdoorsmen should always be the greatest supporters of conscious and mindful actions regarding the spaces we use and love so much: The outdoors. The results of my study will be what they are because my personal thoughts do not change science. But at the end of the day, this is just an undergraduate research project that I sought out because I not only like chemistry and metals, but I think munitions are pretty awesome. And if I am spending a semester and at least 9 hours a week on a research project, I would like for it to have elements (pun #2) of things I enjoy. Thank you for reading and I'll have another post next Thursday!
See you Space Cowboy,
RJ
 |
| There's 4 shots of Espresso in that coffee, in case you were wondering. |
So that we are all on the same page, I will summarize some of the interesting things I've learned from the above stack of publications.
While my particular project is analyzing the heavy metal travel from ammunition cartridges, it needs to be established that heavy metal contamination can occur just about anywhere for a myriad of reasons. For example, one of the papers detailed a study conducted in Hong Kong, which explored contamination in urban parks compared to rural parks. The study did not look at ammunition at all, however there is high urban activity like traffic. Li, Poon, and Liu (2001) looked at soil samples from parks all over Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula, and the New Territories.
 |
| Hong Kong Park near the northern coast of the island. |
Their results showed that there was consistently high contamination in commercial and industrial areas, but for specific metals (e.g. Cd). However, they strongly consider that this may be due to the frequent usage of Cd containing phosphatic fertilizer, not necessarily car tires or oils (as their study focused on roadways). There where high concentrations of Zn, however I learned that Zn is pretty interesting from my next publication.
Researchers at the University of Texas at El Paso studied the ability of alfalfa seeds to germinate and grow in soil containing heavy metals. The soils they tested contained heavy metals concentrations ranging from 0, 5, 10, 20 and 40 ppm (Peralta, 2001). The results showed an interesting phenomenon called Hormesis. This is a process when smaller doses of a substance are beneficial to an organism, while higher doses are harmful or toxic (Mattson, 2002).
 |
| Figure 1.1 from Archer (2013) visualizing the hormesis effect of a chemical agent. |
In Peralta's case, small doses (5- 10 ppm) actually increased the root size of the alfalfa plants, while 20-40 ppm killed most of the plants as seeds by the second week. However, regardless of concentration within soil, Zn (II) did not reduce seed germination, let alone root growth, even at 40 ppm! This may not seem crazy, but considering that the study found majority of the heavy metals to significantly affect the plants at these levels its interesting that Zn (II) does not appear in interfere.
 |
Tanaka, R. “Zn1” Flickr, 2011. |
This reflected certain results from research conducted on two major shooting ranges at Zuchwil and Oberuzwil in Switzerland. Researchers studying the ability of a symbiotic fungi, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM), to attach to the roots of local Ribwort plantain (Mozafar, 2001). In short, these fungi can increase the water and nutrient absorption of a plant in return for essential carbohydrates generated in photosynthesis (Brundrett, 2002). Their study involved collecting soil samples near the up-range safety area (designated HOUSE), the 300m range itself (FIELD), then near the berm (BACKSTOP). Their results showed Zn to have the lowest negative correlation to fungi covered root lengths. While they acknowledge in a natural setting it is difficult to concretely ascribe effects to a single metal, they further mention other researching findings that many fungi's ability to adapt to high levels of Zn and Cd.
That's digging through the weeds a bit (pun intended), however it illustrates how complex trying to isolate the cause and effects of heavy metal contamination is. I'm very excited to learn more about metals and the process of research. But most importantly I thought this was appropriate to explain because while my research project will be analyzing heavy metal contamination from ammunition, I (and the more qualified scientists listed below), am very much aware that HM contamination can come from any source. Furthermore, nature has a way of making sure it continues on and has been proven to adapt regardless of what humans do. I am looking at the relationship between heavy metals found in ammunition and the soil surrounding it, simply because I enjoy learning about metals and ammunition as well.
Perhaps I feel the need to defend this as someone close to me expressed slight annoyance and suspicion that this project was funded by an anti-gun group and that I was looking for reasons to restrict citizen's 2nd amendment right through science. This is definitely not the case and should be irrelevant but I'll explain regardless. Foremost, I am only a casual shooter. I rarely shoot in the desert on unmarked ranges because I myself get lazy about picking up my brass and I prefer a more safe and controlled environment when using my firearms.
 |
| Last time I went to a gun club shooting range for some father daughter bonding |
See you Space Cowboy,
RJ
References:
Archer,
Trevor & Kostrzewa, Richard. (2013). The Inductive Agency of Stress: From
Perinatal to Adolescent Induction. Adaptive and Maladaptive Aspects of
Developmental Stress. 1-20. 10.1007/978-1-4614-5605-6_1.
Brundrett, M.C. (2002). "Coevolution of roots and mycorrhizas
of land plants". New Phytologist. 154 (2): 275–304. doi:10.1046/j.1469-8137.2002.00397.x
Li, X., Poon, C.-S., & Liu, P. S. (2001). Heavy metal
contamination of urban soils and street dusts in Hong Kong. Applied Chemistry, 16(11-12), 1361-1368.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0883-2927(01)00045-2.
Mattson M.P., Calabrese E.J. (2010) Hormesis: What it is and Why
it Matters. In: Mattson M.,
Calabrese E. (eds) Hormesis. Humana Press
Mozafar, A., Ruh, R., Klingel, P., Gamper, H., Egli, S., &
Frossard, E. (2002). Effect of heavy metal contaminated shooting range soils on
mycorrhizal colonization of roots and metal uptake by leek. Environmental
Monitoring and Assessment, 79, 177-191. http://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020202801163
Peralta, J., Gardea-Torresdey, J., Tiemann, K. et al. Bull.
Environ. Contam. Toxicol. (2001) 66: 727. https://doi.org/10.1007/s001280069
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