Emily+Kastl+and+Tia+Sherman

**Title**: Water Purification Processes Tia Sherman and Emily Kastl


 * Abstract: ** We are doing this experiment to see which water purification process is the most effective and practical for everyday life. We will purify water through a number of different processes to see which one grows the least amount of bacteria. Then, we may conclude which process seems to be the best option.


 * Problem:** What purification process is most successful and efficient in the decontamination of drinking water?

**Purpose**: "Seven hundred eighty  million people live without clean drinking water" ( "Water Facts"). The purification of water is extremely important in everyday life because of the consequences contaminated water can have. “Water is an excellent solvent and can be sourced from almost anywhere on Earth. This property makes it prone to all kinds of contamination” ("The Water Purification Process”). Even with water purification systems, bacteria still constitute a real challenge to completely purifying it. “Contaminants range from naturally-occurring minerals to man-made chemicals and by-products. While many contaminants are found at levels not enough to cause immediate discomforts or sicknesses, it is proven that even low-level exposure to many common contaminants will, over time, cause severe illness including liver damage, cancer, and other serious ailments” ("The Truth about Our Environment and Water”). Therefore, our goal in this experiment is to determine what purification process is most successful in decontaminating water. "Eighty percent of all sickness and disease worldwide is related to contaminated water, according to the World Health Organization" ("Water Facts"). So by comparing the cost, efficiency, and purification abilities of the water processes, we will conclude which purification process is the most practical for everyday life.

Independent Variable- Different water processes Dependent Variable- Amount of bacterial growth
 * Variables:**

**Materials**: Water- 1000 mL Petri Dishes- 20 Nutrient Agar Sterile Cotton Swabs 0.5 cm^2 Grid Paper <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tape <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sharpie <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Beaker- 2 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hot Plate <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Purification Tablets or Drops <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Erlenmeyer Flask <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Glass Tubing <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Rubber Stopper <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lamp

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Hypothesis**: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If we compare the practicality of the various water purification processes, then boiling water will be the most optimal option. <span style="color: #ff00be; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(So is your water going to be only contaminated with microbes rather than dirt and that stuff? Because if you are testing efficiency, filtering water might require some money too. -Jon Uhlenhake)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Procedure**: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">*Caution: Be careful when using hot plates, purification tablets or drops, and when dealing with glass materials. Take the proper safety precautions when in the laboratory.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1. Gather all materials. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. Take five samples of tap water. Label the samples for each the following way: use “a” to indicate the controlled water, “b” to indicate cleansed water by boiling, “c” to indicate purification tablets or drops, “d” to indicate distillation, and “e” to indicate UV-radiation. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. When labeling petri dishes, label them 1-4 with the letter following the number that corresponds with the correct water process.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. Heat a hot plate to 100 degrees Celsius. Then place 250 mL of water in a beaker and place on the hot plate. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5. When bubbles begin to appear, it means that the water is boiling. Let the bubbles continue for a solid five minutes for the heat to have the most effect upon any bacteria that may have been living in the water. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">6. Then, remove the beaker from the hot plate. Then refer to step 16.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Boiling Water: **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">7. Use purification tablets or drops. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">8. Place the tablets in the water. If your tablets or drops came with instructions, follow these now. In general, you will want to use one tablet for each liter of water you wish to purify. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 9. Mix the tablets into the water until they dissolve. They must be completely dissolved, and then wait 30 minutes for the tablet to work most effectively. Then refer to step 16.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Purification Tablets or Drops: **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">10. Place 250 mL of water in an Erlenmeyer flask. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">11. Insert one end of the glass tubing into the rubber stopper and insert the stopper into the opening of the Erlenmeyer flask. Make sure that it is the right size and does not leave any gaps along the edge of the flask through which vapor could leak. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">12. Place the Erlenmeyer flask on your hot plate, but do not turn it on yet. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">13. Position the beaker underneath the other end of the glass tubing. The beaker should be at a lower elevation than the Erlenmeyer flask so that as vapor condenses, the resulting liquid runs “downhill” into the beaker. Once that's set up, turn the hot plate on. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">14. Collect the distilled water as it condenses in the tubing and drips into the beaker. Then refer to step 16.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Distilling Water: **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">15. Place 250 mL of water under a lamp for 48 hours.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">UV-Radiation: **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">16. Prepare sterile petri dishes with nutrient agar. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">17. Use a swab for each sample. Dip a sample's swab into that individual sample and do five strokes over the agar in the half of the petri dish. On the other half, leave it alone to serve as a control to determine how much bacteria ends up growing on its own. On the outside of the petri dish use a sharpie to draw a line dividing the two sides and leave the controlled side blank. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">18. Repeat step seventeen for each sample with a new sterile swab each time. After swabbing the petri dish seal with tape. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">19. Then, to take data, each day place the 0.5cm^2 piece of grid paper underneath the petri dish and count the approximate amount of bacteria. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">20. Repeat step 19 for 7 days and record the data. Average the amount of bacteria of the samples from each water purification process. (Your procedure is so thorough, I can't really offer any advice here, maybe just fluff up your background a bit to make it look longer. You could add stats about how many people don't have clean water or something. -Jon Uhlenhake) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">No cost for materials if we use school owned materials already. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Do need purification tablets or drops. Possible options are: (only need one of the following) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Potable Aqua Iodine Tablets- $6.95 for 50 tablets <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Chlorine Tablets- Unknown(difficulty finding what we need) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Chlorine Water- $9.55 for 500 mL (Worst case scenario)
 * Budget:**

Bibliography**:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"The Truth about Our Environment and Water." Environment Pollution Increased Need For Drinking Water Purification. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2013. <[]>. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"The Water Purification Process." The Water Purification Process. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2013. <[]>. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Water Facts." Food Water Watch General. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2013. <[]>.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;"> "How Does Chlorine Added to Drinking Water Kill Bacteria and Other Harmful Organisms? Why Doesn't It Harm Us?" //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Scientific American Global RSS //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. <http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-does-chlorine-added-t-1998-05-04/>.