Neighborhood Microplastic Deposition Mapping Project

ISEF Category: Chemistry

Subcategory: Environmental Chemistry  ·  Difficulty: Intermediate  ·  Setup: Home Setup  ·  Time: 1 to 2 Months

The Hook

Tiny plastic particles are floating through the air around you right now. You cannot see most of them, but they can settle on sidewalks, porches, and windowsills like dust. That makes your neighborhood a real sampling site. You can measure where they land, and then ask what traffic and wind have to do with it.

What Is It?

Atmospheric microplastic deposition means tiny plastic pieces fall out of the air and land on surfaces. Think of it like pollen, but made of plastic fragments, fibers, and flakes. Some particles come from tire wear, synthetic clothing, packaging, and degraded litter. Others move in from far away on the wind.

Your job is to collect what lands in different places, count it, and compare patterns. A passive collector, like a sticky slide, works like a flypaper trap for airborne particles. Then a USB microscope helps you sort likely plastic pieces by shape, color, and texture. You can compare busy roads, quiet streets, sheltered spots, and open areas to see where deposition changes.

Why This Is a Good Topic

This is a strong science fair topic because you can measure a real environmental problem with simple equipment and clear variables. You get to study air movement, pollution transport, and human activity all in one project. The question is testable, the data are visual, and the results can connect to traffic patterns and local weather. You can also grow the project from simple counting into image classification, spatial mapping, and statistics.

Research Questions

• How does distance from a busy road affect the number of microplastic particles collected on passive slides?
• What is the effect of wind direction on where microplastic deposition peaks in a neighborhood?
• Does collector height change the type or amount of microplastic particles captured?
• To what extent do sheltered locations collect more particles than open locations with similar traffic exposure?
• Which neighborhood features, such as trees, fences, or building walls, are associated with higher deposition rates?
• How does daily traffic density relate to the count of likely microplastic fibers under the microscope?

Basic Materials

• Sticky microscope slides or clear adhesive slides
• Clean glass slides or clear plastic microscope slides
• Clear adhesive tape or sticky mounting medium
• USB microscope with adjustable magnification
• Phone or camera for backup photos
• GPS app or neighborhood map
• Notebook or data sheet
• Ruler or measuring tape
• Gloves
• Tweezers
• Labeled storage bags or slide cases
• Weather data from OpenWeather or a similar public source
• Traffic count notes from timed observation periods
• Distilled water for cleaning surfaces
• White paper or black paper for photo backgrounds.

Advanced Materials

• Vacuum filtration setup for control samples
• Stereomicroscope or compound microscope with digital camera
• FTIR or Raman access for polymer confirmation
• Clean laminar flow hood or still-air workspace
• Pre-weighed aluminum foil or glass deposition plates
• Reference microplastic library images
• Particle counting software
• Particle size calibration slide
• Sample digestion supplies for removing organic debris, if your lab allows it
• GIS software for mapping site locations
• Meteorological data archive access
• Blank control collectors for field contamination checks.

Software & Tools

• ImageJ: Measures particle size, helps count objects, and supports basic image thresholding for microscope photos.
• OpenWeather: Provides local wind, temperature, and weather data for matching deposition to sampling days.
• QGIS: Maps collector sites and lets you compare deposition patterns with roads, trees, and building layouts.
• Google Sheets: Organizes counts, weather variables, and summary statistics in one place.
• R: Runs correlation tests, regression models, and simple spatial comparisons for your dataset.

Experiment Steps

1. Define the particle type you will count and write a visual rule for what qualifies as a likely microplastic particle.
2. Choose collector sites that differ in traffic, shelter, and exposure, then keep the site layout consistent.
3. Plan your blank controls and contamination checks so you can tell field particles from background noise.
4. Build a counting system that separates fibers, fragments, and flakes, then test it on a few pilot images.
5. Pair each collection day with weather and traffic records so you can test which variables matter most.
6. Decide how you will map and compare sites, then choose a statistical test before you collect the full dataset.

Common Pitfalls

• Using dusty indoor surfaces as controls, which makes it impossible to tell real atmospheric deposition from room contamination.
• Changing collector placement between sites, which creates differences caused by setup rather than traffic or wind.
• Counting lint, pollen, or dirt as plastic, which inflates your results and weakens image classification.
• Skipping blank slides, which leaves you with no way to estimate background contamination from handling and transport.
• Mixing up collection dates with weather records, which breaks the link between deposition, wind, and traffic.

What Makes This Competitive

A class-level project counts particles. A stronger project tests a cleaner hypothesis and defends it with better controls. You can raise the level by separating particle shape classes, comparing multiple site types, and modeling traffic and wind together instead of one at a time. If you add strict contamination controls and a clear image-based scoring rule, your data will look much more credible.

Project Variations

• Compare deposition near bus stops, parking lots, and residential streets to see how traffic intensity changes particle counts.
• Add a rooftop or balcony site to test whether higher elevation catches a different mix of airborne microplastics.
• Use image analysis to compare fiber length, color, and shape across sites instead of only counting total particles.

Learn More

• NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information: Search for local wind, weather, and climate data to match your sampling days.
• NASA Earth Observatory: Read plain-language articles on atmospheric transport, particulate matter, and pollution movement.
• PubMed: Search for review articles on airborne microplastics, atmospheric deposition, and urban pollution.
• USGS: Look for educational material on environmental contaminants, sampling methods, and field study design.
• MIT OpenCourseWare: Search for introductory environmental chemistry and statistics material that can help you plan data analysis.