Question

Paheli dug two pits, A and B, in her garden. In pit A, she put a polythene bag packet with some agricultural waste. In pit B, she dumped the same kind of waste but without packing it in a polythene bag. She, then covered both the pits with soil. What did she observe after a month?

Options

• Waste in pit A degraded faster than that in pit B

• Waste in pit B degraded faster than that in pit A

• Waste in both pits degraded almost equally

• Waste in both pits did not degrade at all

Answer 1

Waste in pit B degraded faster than that in pit A

Explanation:

Waste in pit B degraded faster than that in pit A because packet B was kept open, so O₂ could go in which helped the microbes in decomposing the waste materials easily. In packet A, since it was sealed, O₂ could not enter and thus, microbial degradation did not occur.