Water Filter

In my water class we have been discussing filtration. We got to visit a water filtration plant, hear in Chicago, and learned more in depth about water filtration in the lake. I was able to show what I learned about in the form of a water filter.

For my first filter, I started with an empty soda can and took off the top of it. I then poked a hole in the bottom so that water would be able to exit the filter. I put small pebbles, also known a gravel, in the bottom. Then I put coarse sand on top of the gravel followed by fine sand above it. Next I attached a two layered coffee filters underneath the can with duct tape.

KH, Water Filter #1 Sketch (2019) 

For my second filter I reused my can from my first one and added more gravel; I then added the course sand on top. When I finished, I again taped on the layered coffee filters to the bottom.

 KH, Water Filter #2 Sketch (2019)

KH, Constructed Water Filter (2019)

My hope was that in having a layered variety of natural materials it can filter the dirty water. So when I tried with my first filter and my water came out to be quite dirty, I was disappointed, so I tried a second time. This time I took out the materials that seemed dirty to begin with, this was the fine sand. When I took out the fine sand and tried again there was a substantial visual difference. Although it seemed cloudy, there was less physical dirt in it.

In natural instances filtering occurs much like how I created my filter with the different layers of dirt, sand and gravel.

KH, Dirty Bowl of Water (2019)

My water to begin with is very dirty with soil and twigs (as it shows in the picture above). After going through the first filter, the water had some dirt in it, enough so that I would want to try again. On my second filter the water came out more cloudy, but with less dirt in it (as it shows in the picture below). Although the water came out cleaner than when it went in I still would not recommend drinking it.

KH, Bowl of Water (2019)

The water I got was from a dirty puddle from outside. The pH of the water prior to filtering was 7.3, which means it is neutral, this means that it has a H+ of 0.00000005 which when converted to scientific notation is 5 x 10^-7. The pH of the water post filter #1 was 7.1, which is also neutral, with a H+ of 0.000000079 and in scientific notation is 7.9 x 10^-8. The pH of the water post filter #2 ended up at 6.7, which is a bit more acidic but still relatively neutral. This also means that it has a H+ of 0.0000002, which in scientific notation is 2 x 10^-6.

In a way, my hypothesis was correct, even after my first filter there was a substantial difference in the visual cleanliness of the water. It was not as visually clean as I wanted it to be, so after I tried again it was much more clean.