For this project we were instructed to make a display and presentation that would educate our audience on the seriousness of the lack of quality of drinking water around the world and to hopefully help influence our audience to understand and make better decisions when it comes to their drinking water. Each group pitch their project to a member of the Novato Sunrise Rotary and the class. My group designed a water filter and Slide show presentation to help show some simpler ways to turn dirty water into Safe Drinking Water.
Our first attempt I was using Sand and Gravel in a large container with a hole in the bottom. it did not work because the sand was too dirty and it took far too long for the water to seep through the container.
Our second attempt worked because we cleaned the sand and used a smaller container to allow water to flow easier we also added a cloth and funnel under the container so that the filter could remove smaller particles from the water.
As shown in these pictures under a microscope you can see that there are far less particles in the clean water than in the dirty water
We tested the PH in our water and it came out to a healthy level around 7 or 8.
Dipole- A bond or molecule whose ends have opposite charges. This was an important concept to understand because in order to contaminate the water bonding needed to happen.
Cohesion- Cohesion is the attraction of molecules to other molecules of the same type, or for our purposes, the attraction of water to water. This was important for us to understand because of water concepts were needed to succeed.
Polar Covalent- A polar covalent bond exists when atoms with different electronegativities share electrons in a covalent bond. It was important to understand polar covalent bonding because the different bonding types should be identified in order to fully understand how to effectively filter the water.
Polar Molecule- A molecule with a difference in electrical charges between two ends. It was important for us to understand polar molecules because they show us how the bonding will happen in our project.
Adhesion- Adhesion is the attraction of molecules of one kind to molecules of a different molecule. This was an important concept for us to understand because adhesion was how the metal molecules were attracted to the water molecules.
Non-polar Covalent- A non-polar covalent bond occurs when atoms share electrons equally, and the electrons do not spend more time around either of the atoms. It was important to understand non-polar covalent bonding because the different bonding types should be identified in order to fully understand how to effectively filter the water.
Solution: In chemistry a solution is a mixture of two substances together regardless of the phase of the substances. Grey water is a solution because multiple substances and compounds are dissolved in water.
Ionic Solution: An ionic solution is a solution involving ions. Salt (Sodium chloride) in water (H2O) is a common example of an ionic solution because the positive and negative charge in the water attracts the charged sodium while pushing the chloride away. This is a process called disassociation.
Molecular Solution: In an ionic solution the components disassociate from each other but in a molecular solution they stay together because the molecule involved is not attracted by the ionic charges.
Polarity: Generally solvents and solutes with similar polarity are best able to combine into solutions. For instance, water and oil don't combine together because they have different polarities so the water just stays on top.
Solute: Solute is what dissolves in the solvent in a solution. Laundry detergent dissolves in the water, creating a solution.
Solvent: Solvents dissolve solutes to create solutions. Lemon juice is the solvent in which sugar dissolves to create the solution we know as lemonade.
pH: The pH scale is a scale of the basicity and the acidity of something. The scale is log-based, which means that steps up the scale vary exponentially from one another.
Overall I really enjoyed this project. I think that it really helped me understand that clean drinking water is an issue in the US and in the world. I enjoyed the freedom we were given when deciding what to do for our project. I think I did a good job with creativity and critical thinking because there were multiple times that something didnt work and my group would have to come up with a different plan. Two thing I think I could work on are collaboration and communication. For this project I was with group members that I didnt know very well previously and I think I could have done a better job communication with them.