Discussion

Below is the graphical interpretation of the results from two experiments. These results both used the new, modified version of our mushroom pretreatment method, with one test's initial lead concentration starting at 1000 ppm, while the other started at 400 ppm. C_e represents the lead concentration in the mushroom at the end of the experiment, while q_e represents the mass of lead absorbed per mass of mushroom. Omitting the outliers in the data results in a coefficient of determination, R², of 0.71, indicating a relatively decent level of consistency in the data. The slope is referred to as the partition coefficient , or K, which represents the amount mushroom needed to treat a volume of water, and has a value of 0.102. This indicates that 0.102 liters of solution can be treated with 1 gram of mushroom.

^{Graphical Results / Photo Credit: Fungi Team}

Percent (%) Removal

The percent of lead removed by the mushrooms was calculated for each sample, shown in the table below. The removal ranges from 34.8% to 88.9%, with an overall average lead removal of 73.5%. All other raw data and percent removal for each experiment can be found in our final report on our Documents page.

^{Tabulated Results / Photo Credit: Fungi Team}