Our hypothesis stated that the bio-chambers with the soil would decompose at a faster rate due the microorganisms helping the process. This would appear to be true from the our results. However, we can not view this as a conclusive answer due to there being other factors within the bio chambers that we could not control and did not predict, E.G the moisture released during decomposition which was weighed in the vials.
The results from the bio chambers containing soil, should not be considered reliable, because of the result of control 2, which shows an almost identical percentage increase in weight when compared to the mean average weight of bio-chambers with soil.
Control 2 % change in weight = 27.2711 and the mean % weight increases of bio-chambers with soil = 27.6316.
Control 1% increase of weight = 14.5872 and the mean % weight increase of bio-chambers without soil = 20.9017.
In comparison to the percentage increase of weight of control 1 and the average % increase of the bio-chambers without soil, it is clear that the moisture from the soil has lead to the results being unreliable as the excess water has been weighed. This is visible within the Averages and Overview subsection of Quantitative results, most prominent within Figures 9-11.
From reading papers on reactions with soda lime and carbon dioxide, we have read that soda lime can absorb approximately 19% of its weight in carbon dioxide. From our mean weight increase of biochambers without soil being 20.9017% we can confidently back up that absorption rate figure from Freeman and Berger (2014).
Physical Atmosphere 