We were tasked with creating a project related to water. Out of the many possible options such as: Methods to Recycle wastewater, how does drinking water get to your house, minimizing Clean Water Use, biological Treatment of Wastewater, how is drinking water treated, and greywater. My group decided to research water filtration but we wanted to accomplish this in an unconventional way. We joked about pouring the dirty water into a cactus and tapping it to get clean water out. For fun I typed "Cactus water filtration" into google and was surprised when I got scientific results. After looking into it further my team decided that we would use cacti to filter water however it is not as simple as tapping. Cacti contain large large quantity of mucilage. This mucilage bonds to contaminants due to its polarity. The mucilage clumps the contaminants such as heavy metals and bacteria up and makes them easier to remove. We wanted to apply this knowledge to water filtration in developing countries. Since many places have local cacti, we figured we could teach people how to make cacti powder which would take advantage of mucilage while also making it easy to distribute in the water. In order to spread this knowledge we planned to partner with The Drinkable Book project. The Drinkable Book project sends books of water filters to developing countries. The filters have information printed on them like how important clean water is to your health. We would print information about cacti water filtration on the Drinkable Book filters.
CH 12 Solutions Solution: a liquid in which a solute is dissolved in a solvent. The water we are trying to purify often has other molecules dissolved in it that must be taken out. Solute: A molecule which dissolves in a solvent to create a solution. Salts are a solvent that often must be taken out of drinking water. Solvent: A liquid which solutes dissolve in. Water is considered the "universal solvent" since it dissolved most solutes due to the same of its molecule and its polarity. Electrolytes vs. non-electrolytes: An electrolyte produces ions when dissolved in water. A non electrolyte does not have this property. An electrolyte such as salts are ions in drinking water. Polarity: polar molecules contain polar bonds due to the electron negativity in the molecule. The molecule has a positive and negatively charged end. The polarity of water causes it be to the universal solvent. Solubility: the ability to be dissolved. Polar molecules can be dissolved in water. Dissolving ions in solution: When a molecule is an electrolyte such as a salt is disassociates into ions. Organic matter in water (bacteria & virus): Organic matter in water can cause serious health issues such as Cholera. By using cacti we can take these organic materials out of water.
CH 14 Acids & Bases pH: a measurement of the amount of hydrogen and hydroxide ions in a solution. Acidic solutions have more hydrogen than hydroxide ions. Basic solutions are the opposite. The pH scale is from 1 to 14. The smaller a number the more acidic. Pure water is theoretically a pH of 7. When testing water quality pH must be considered. Drink-ability range: In order to drink water if must be between a pH of 6 to 8.5. When filtering water if my be necessary to correct it's pH. Particle separation: When the molecules of a particular substance become district and unbonded from that of a solvent. Cacti causes some particles to separate from the water which allows them to be taken out of the water. Size of "stuff" in water: There are several layer of contaminants. Gravel is a large containment while bacteria are small. Depending on the size containment you are trying to filter out the process for cleaning the water is different. Using cacti powered causes many sizes of contaminants to clump up and allows them to all be removed at once. Chemicals used to clean water: Chlorine is often used to clean water since it is a halogen and effective at killing bacteria. However, chlorine will also affect the pH of the water and must be used in a safe way. Using cacti to filter water does not require chemicals which makes it an environmentally friendly option. What is activated charcoal & what does it do?: Activated charcoal (aka carbon) is designed to have small, absorptive pores that are used to take organic materials out of water. It is commonly found in multistage water filters such as the Lifestraw or Brita filters. Using cacti to filter water does not require activated carbon.
Additional terms Mucilage: a gelatinous, polysaccharide substance extracted from plants. It is often used in medicines and adhesives. Mucilage is found in most succulents such as Aloe Vera as well as cacti. Our filtration procedure is based on using the mucilage in cacti.
I had a lot of fun doing this project. It reminded me of my final project for biology. We had to solve a world problem and my group decided to make glowing plants to reduce energy consumption. In this project my team (made of a few of the same members as last year) decided to use plants to solve a different world problem, water contamination. I love finding unconventional solutions to a problem and both of these projects qualify. A peak of this project was how unique it was. Many other teams in our class chose water filtration but they approached it through traditional means. Our project was unique and innovative. Another peak was my teammates. I have worked with many of these people before and I knew we worked well together. I think our team was well balanced. Two of our teammates are interested in biology so they explored the technical aspect of the project. Two of us explored the distribution and the means to apply the concept to the real world. A pit of the project would be that it coincided with the final season of Game of Thrones airing. This was a source of distraction for three of my teammates and decreased out overall productivity. Another pit is time. Due to time constraints were not not able to run any practical tests. We wrote an entire procedure but we could not get actual results. If we had another week or two to work on the project, my time might have been able to work in the lab and get some data.
This project also allowed me to fulfill aspects of the "Six C's Graduate Profile"
Peaks: Cultural Competency: It is unusual for a project to allow the exploration of culture to a great extant. This project was unique in that it practically required cultural competency research. This aspect makes our projects more applicable in real life and gives it a greater purpose. Communicator: Since this group had five people instead of four we required even more communication. Additionally, since this project was worked on turning testing weeks (CAASP and AP testing) we did not have every team member each work day. This meant we had to communicate with our team so that the project was still being worked on even while half of our team was testing.
Pits: Conscientious Learner: Due to many distractions (such as Game of Thrones) our team did not manage our time efficiently. This meant we did not have enough time to run tangible tests. Although some team members tried to limit these conversations it did not make an impact. Collaborator: Although we communicated very well sometimes we also got off task and distracted. When teammates got distracted, other team members continued to work on the project. This meant not everyone was collaborating in the process. Some decisions were made while some teammates were not listening. Additionally, since we rarely had our entire team due to testing and illness it was hard to collaborate despite our communication.
Although we did not run these tests practically, we wrote up the procedure for a theoretical experiment
Acquire water samples (505 ml of water) and plate to measure contaminants
Obtain stagnant water from San Marin pond
Plate a sample to measure the content, using proper z streaking technique
Let incubate for 24 hours and check for growth
Research or seek professional opinion of bacteria formed
Obtain 5 beakers, and fill each with 100 ml water.
For the first beaker, label with name, period, etc, and pipet 100 ml of water in it.
Boil 100 ml of water for 5 minutes for 100 degrees (Ensure the hot plate reaches the correct temperature and then place the beaker on the plate)
For the second beaker, label with name, period, etc, and pipet 100 ml of boiled water in it.
For the third beaker, label with name, period, etc, and pipet 100 ml of water in it, insert 10mg of cactus powder or goop.
For the fourth beaker, label with name, period, etc, and pipet 100 ml of water in it, inserting 20 mg of powder or goop.
For the fifth beaker, label with name, period, etc, and pipet 100 ml of water in it, insert 30 mg of powder or goop.
For the sixth beaker, label with name, period, etc, and pipet 100 ml of water in it, insert 40 mg of cactus powder or goop.
Once all beakers have been collected, let sit for 24 hours in room temperature.
Once time is up, take water samples from each beaker
Plate a sample to measure the content, using proper z streaking technique
Let incubate for 24 hours and check for growth
Research or seek professional opinion of bacteria formed