WAT-ER We Drinking Project
Project description:
For this project, we were given the opportunity to brainstorm a way to purify water. We researched water purification and the chemistry behind it. We also got to see presentations from water experts. After thorough research, we were set off to create our own form of water purification, or to prototype and test a previously used one. My group and I created a new way of water purification, through the use of a dam. That will be explained further in the project description section below. Our final goal was to create a model of water purification and a presentation that would go with it. We eventually presented to water experts, who seemed very impressed with our work and ideas.
Background:
As said before, we did research leading up to this project. The first step in our research was to find the issues in water purification today. A great example of this would be the Flint water crisis, where the water corroded at the pipes, and lead leeched into citizen's drinking water.
Our Problem to Solve:
All around the world, purified water is not provided due to high costs and unavailable energy. Our goal was to create a system of purification that does not require outside energy, and cost efficient. Our overall plan was to have a dam-based purification system where the water pushing against the dam would spin a turbine that generates electricity. That energy would be used to create heat that would purify water through an evaporation system. |
Another way that we learned about water before the project was through seeing presentations from water experts. Two different experts came in, and we were to take notes on their presentations and include that information into our projects.
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Concepts:
- Solute: The component that is dissolved into a solution. In our case, the solute was the impurities in the water that we were trying to purify.
- Solution: A liquid mixture where something is dissolved into another. For our project, the solution was the dirty water, and our goal was to separate the solution into solute and solvent.
- Solvent: A substance, usually a liquid, that has the ability to dissolve another substance. The universal solvent is water, and that is what we were working with in this project.
- Changing states: Matter, in our case water, has the ability to change states based on its temperature. For our project, we added heat to water, a liquid, and it evaporated into a gas. That gas then condensed into a liquid again.
- Wastewater: Water with impurities in it, usually from being previously used. This was an important concept to understand for this project because many groups addressed wastewater in their models.
- pH scale: The scale of which a liquid is measured based on acidity. In our project, we measured pH before and after using our prototype to make sure that our purification methods were solid. Drinkable water is around a 7 on the pH scale.
- Acid: Something with a low pH. Acidic things have the ability to corrode, so we wanted to avoid an acidic outcome.
- Base: Something with a high pH. Also known as alkaline.
- Ionic vs Molecular: An ionic bond is a bond between two differently charged atoms. This bond is between a metal and a nonmetal. A molecular bond is between two positive or two negative charges.
- Bacteria and Viruses in Water: Bacteria in water is extremely dangerous, and it is responsible for millions of deaths. In our project, we had to make sure that our purification system got rid of possible viruses and bacteria. By boiling the water, all microbes are killed, eliminating this issue.
- Total Hardness: The mineral concentration in water. After purifying the water with our model, the total hardness of the water went down by a lot, which is good because hard water can taste bad and it can lead to buildup.
- Water Turbine: Water turbines use the power of water to generate energy. Similar to a wind turbine, the water spins the turbine, which generates electricity. We planned to use a water turbine on a dam to generate the energy that would be used for our purification system.
- Evaporation: When water is heated, it turns into a gas form. We took advantage of this process in our project because when water evaporates, it leaves impurities and the solutes behind.
- Purification: The removal of contaminants. We did this in our project by removing the contaminants from water.
- Solution: A liquid mixture where something is dissolved into another. For our project, the solution was the dirty water, and our goal was to separate the solution into solute and solvent.
- Solvent: A substance, usually a liquid, that has the ability to dissolve another substance. The universal solvent is water, and that is what we were working with in this project.
- Changing states: Matter, in our case water, has the ability to change states based on its temperature. For our project, we added heat to water, a liquid, and it evaporated into a gas. That gas then condensed into a liquid again.
- Wastewater: Water with impurities in it, usually from being previously used. This was an important concept to understand for this project because many groups addressed wastewater in their models.
- pH scale: The scale of which a liquid is measured based on acidity. In our project, we measured pH before and after using our prototype to make sure that our purification methods were solid. Drinkable water is around a 7 on the pH scale.
- Acid: Something with a low pH. Acidic things have the ability to corrode, so we wanted to avoid an acidic outcome.
- Base: Something with a high pH. Also known as alkaline.
- Ionic vs Molecular: An ionic bond is a bond between two differently charged atoms. This bond is between a metal and a nonmetal. A molecular bond is between two positive or two negative charges.
- Bacteria and Viruses in Water: Bacteria in water is extremely dangerous, and it is responsible for millions of deaths. In our project, we had to make sure that our purification system got rid of possible viruses and bacteria. By boiling the water, all microbes are killed, eliminating this issue.
- Total Hardness: The mineral concentration in water. After purifying the water with our model, the total hardness of the water went down by a lot, which is good because hard water can taste bad and it can lead to buildup.
- Water Turbine: Water turbines use the power of water to generate energy. Similar to a wind turbine, the water spins the turbine, which generates electricity. We planned to use a water turbine on a dam to generate the energy that would be used for our purification system.
- Evaporation: When water is heated, it turns into a gas form. We took advantage of this process in our project because when water evaporates, it leaves impurities and the solutes behind.
- Purification: The removal of contaminants. We did this in our project by removing the contaminants from water.
Our Project:
Our Data: In order to have a successful model, everything needed to be measured out and recorded. We created a data table to go along with this, and it represents the process of purification. |
Model plan:
As said before, the overall plan was to create a dam-powered purification system. The goal of the project, though was to create a model of our plan, and we couldn't model that entire system with the time that we were given. So instead, we decided to model solely the purification aspect, especially because that had more to do with chemistry. |
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Our presentation:
We compiled a presentation to show the water experts. Basically, we added every component of our project into this presentation, and simplified it. The water experts were mostly interested in the form of purification, rather than the chemistry, and our teacher was focused more on the chemistry of the project. |
Results:
After purifying the water, we conducted multiple tests to see how purified the water really was.
After purifying the water, we conducted multiple tests to see how purified the water really was.
Reflection:
This project was very interesting to me because we got to incorporate chemistry, engineering and making a difference all into one project. We got to come up with our own ideas and designs, and it helped to make us feel more accomplished. I liked doing this a lot because it made me feel like I was making a difference while I was also learning.
We had a few bumps in the road for this project. To begin with, we had a couple different focuses on our idea, since our task was pretty broad. This was easily smoothed out though, since we all could agree on what our overall goal was.
Throughout this project, I improved on many things. The main things that I flourished on were time management and staying organized. Time management meaning that everything was well planned out so that we got our project done on time. I did this by creating ways to plan out our experiments in my lab notebook. We did our best to keep our plans and trials neat and organized. I included our planning above for reference. Compared to other projects, I felt that we had more evenly spaced timing, and were able to finish everything with time left over to improve upon it.
The main thing that I need to work on for myself was task management. By that, I mean keeping everyone on task. This project had many individual parts to it, so I felt that a lot of the time, we all weren't working on the same thing. Other than that, I really enjoyed this project.
We had a few bumps in the road for this project. To begin with, we had a couple different focuses on our idea, since our task was pretty broad. This was easily smoothed out though, since we all could agree on what our overall goal was.
Throughout this project, I improved on many things. The main things that I flourished on were time management and staying organized. Time management meaning that everything was well planned out so that we got our project done on time. I did this by creating ways to plan out our experiments in my lab notebook. We did our best to keep our plans and trials neat and organized. I included our planning above for reference. Compared to other projects, I felt that we had more evenly spaced timing, and were able to finish everything with time left over to improve upon it.
The main thing that I need to work on for myself was task management. By that, I mean keeping everyone on task. This project had many individual parts to it, so I felt that a lot of the time, we all weren't working on the same thing. Other than that, I really enjoyed this project.