Filters for All

    This is my 7th action project, in which we had to design a water filter. Water filtration has been the main thing we've discussed in this unit. We even went to a water filtration plant here in Chicago. It was a very insightful experience, although I would rather not go again. It was very deep underground and very loud, both things I didn't like. However, seeing all the work that goes into ensuring our water is clean was still very interesting. In class, we've also discussed ppm (parts per million), atoms, molecules, and logs. I found it to be quite nice. It was a lot of work at times, but nothing impossible.    

For this experiment, I wanted to know if I could make a water filter by myself. My design was the top of a plastic jug. The inside of the jug had 3 layers. The 1st was activated carbon (to filter the water), the 2nd was a coffee filter (to separate the layers), and the 3rd was cotton balls (for the water to soak through instead of just common right out.) After the water had filtered, it would go through the coffee filter and the cotton balls and into the cup. This is what the sketch looked like.

When I made the filter, I had access to more materials, so the actual filter had 2 extra layers of sand and clay. I also didn't get any coffee filters, so the layers weren't completely separated. 

The finished product looked like this.
 To test our filters, we used water with dirt in it. To check if the water had actually filtered or not, we used a PPM measurer. The PPM measured the TDS (total dissolved solids) of the water. The higher the PPM, the more TDS in the water. Before filtration, the dirty water had 824 ppm. I believed that this number would go down by about 50.

After the filtration process, the water had 945 PPM. The water looked somewhat green compared to the dirty water.
After filtration, the water had a change of 14.68%, meaning the water got dirtier after filtration. To get an idea of how much dirtier it got, this is the TDS of salt water, distilled water, Chicago water, this water before filtration, and this water after filtration. The closer the number is to -1, the more TDS in the water.

Although the change is small, the water still didn't filter. I think the water didn't filter because it had too many layers on top of each other, and not a lot blocking the layers from each other. Regardless, this was still an enjoyable experiment. If I were to do it again, I would try to have the layers better separated. In the end, though, I had fun making and designing this filter.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is Home?

     This is the first action project for the winter term of my class Who Am I? During this term, we've tackled many different topics covering race, ethnicity, and culture. For example, we watched the movie  Yellow Rose , in which, after her mother's deportation, Rose sets out to achieve her dream of becoming a country movie star. The way the movie showcased how culture and ethnicity impact the way we move about the world and what we're expected to be was very interesting. We also visited the Field Museum, where we learned about Native culture and how deep their lineage lies in Chicago, which was very nice to see. Native Americans rarely receive representation in media, so having a major museum giving them the spotlight was very nice.     For our action project, we had to record a 10 to 12-minute podcast asking a family member their thoughts on race, ethnicity, and culture. I chose to interview my mother, as I wanted to know her experiences growing up with ...
Read more

A World of My Own

Image
     This is my action project for my class Who Am I, in which we had to design what our version of a utopia would look like. During this unit, we've been focusing on how gender, sexuality, and intersectionality. During this term, we watch Moonlight, a movie following a boy named Chiron, and how his different marginalized identities impacted how he lived his watch. It was sometimes an uncomfortable watch, but sometimes you have to be uncomfortable to learn. I think the film was a perfect summary of what we've learned, not just for this unit, but for the class as a whole.      For my action project, my version of a utopia was a place where everyone's voices could be heard, no matter who you are or where you came from. To show this, I created a podium and placed signs around it, with different identities and important causes placed on them. For me, representation is a very big thing for me. Being a part of marginalized groups and watching them be silence...
Read more

Eyes

This is the final action project for the Spring term for my class “Who Am I?” In which I had to write a short story related to our identity. During this term, we’ve been learning about all aspects related to our identity. While I didn’t really learn anything new about myself, It’s been very interesting to think and learn about our identities, and how all the different aspects of identity intersect and impact the way we experience life. For my story, I had to incorporate aspects of the book we chose for this unit. My book, Black Fatigue, talks about the mental toll of being black. I used that concept, but instead of leaving it at that, I wanted to make it show how being black (or a minority in general) isn’t just misery 24/7 and that misery that we see every day can be changed into motivation for the future. While I don't think this class or this project made me learn anything new about myself, It made me think about it more deeply than I ever have before. I also haven’t written so...
Read more