Taking+responsible+risks

= Taking responsible risks =

//"There has been a calculated risk in every stage of American development - the pioneers who were not afraid of the wilderness, buisness man who were not afraid of failure, dreamers who were not afraid of action."// Brooks Atkinson

Taking responsible risks is something every individual does for an opportunity to learn more. In my case, my curiosity led my group and I to take a responsible risk while doing an experiment which investigated pH of different substances and whether they were acidic or basic. An example of these substances were soda water, distilled water, hand soap, dish soap, etc. The following picture is an example of the colors we obtained while conducting this experiment in each test tube.



After conducting the experiment and recording our pH results we obtained while using pH litmus paper, we asked ourselves what kind of water was in our class sink. We thought that because our sink water was dirty and probably mixed with bacteria, that the pH would not be exactly 7, neutral. We then conducted the same experiment, however, on our Shanghai tap water. As a group we concluded that the water was actually more basic, and not an acid, which came as a surprise to us. We assumed that with China's heavy smog, with a large amount of acid rain, that our tap water would also be more acidic. However, our curiosity drove us to extend our experiment and test other substances. Our responsible risk therefore made us learn more about pH levels, and our surroundings in Shanghai. Now I know i shouldn't drink Shanghai tap water (which I may have known before as well).