Water Filtration Challenge Lab
Define:
The challenge that we had to solve was “make a water filter that will filter dirty water and make it clean enough to put back into the Coquitlam river with the materials given”. To complete this challenge, we used the design sheet to emphasize the problem and think of ways to solve it. Our group used the sheet to thoroughly brainstorm ideas and design models to try.
Discover:
We asked some questions in order to complete the challenge. One question was hat are the restrictions of the challenge? What will each material do for the filter? Finally, which materials should be used and why? We learned early on that the main restriction was the materials. There were a select few of materials that would be good for the filter and putting them together would be no easy task as each one would need to be used to its fullest potential. We researched our topic using many sites and they all gave us good information on what our materials can do and what they will be good at in the filter. For example, we learned that sand can get all the particles out of the water along with any unwanted bacteria if there was any. Along, with that we learned that rocks can catch debris and carbon is a great filter and de-smeller for filters as well. This all helped when creating designs for our water filter. We learned that certain combinations of materials were good like carbon with sand and filter paper or cotton balls with crystals and carbon. Also, we answered our final question and learned that certain materials should always be used. Carbon, for example should always be used as it de-smelled the water and filtered it as well. we also learned that sand was always good since it blocked lots of debris and that filter paper is always great as it can get anything left behind. This all helped as certain designs used combos of these to make good filters. For example, lots of carbon and sand with multiple layers of filter paper. Even with the restrictive materials we made good designs in order to get great results in the end.
Dream:
All our group members had good ideas to improve our designs even if they seemed unorthodox, 
these ideas especially came up when we were faced with big problem. For example, some of our material combos didn’t work to well even when they we essential materials so we came up with an idea it put them in a different order and put them in in different ways too. At the time it seemed like this wouldn’t make a difference put when we tried it, I went well and made good results. In the end we ended up coming up with a lot of ideas like this to address road blocks we had.
Deliver:
After making our designs, doing our research, and defining the problem and the restrictions that came with it we started to create our water filters. Our 
first filter had a sponge at the bottom then 2 sheets of filter paper followed my crystals, sand, carbon, crystals again, and finally a cheese cloth. When looking at the prototype before testing it was good, none of the materials got in the way of each other. Our logic was that the cheese cloth would catch any big debris while the crystals would separate the water. The sand would catch anything smaller while the carbon de-smelled it and cleaned it same with the filter paper. Finally, 
the sponge would get anything that was missed. After filtering the water through it the results weren’t too bad. The water was clear with no particles and it wasn’t as yellow although it was still yellowish, and it still smelled bad. By using the ph 
paper we saw that the dirty waters ph was 5 and the filtered waters was 5.5 to 6 which is a little better than before. the main problem was the smell and color of the water, so we focused on this with the next prototype. Our second prototype had a lot of cotton balls along with carbon and sand, with filter paper separating each layer and again with a sponge too. Our logic was that 
the cotton would catch pretty much everything while the filter paper and carbon would filter the water better than before since there was more filter paper and finally the sponge to catch anything extra. This time when we filtered the water it was a lot better. The water wasn’t as yellow in fact it was more of a foggy white. The smell had improved too and
wasn’t as bad as before. the ph however, had stayed the same as before it was still 5.5 to 6 ph. We built one last prototype in order to see if we could make the water even clearer. This time we took out the cotton and the sponge. We put a cheese cloth where the sponge would be, and it was held there with an elastic band. We had one layer of filter paper this time only. However, unlike before we added tons more carbon and sand. The reason we did this is because we thought it would make the water very clear and it would stop it from smelling altogether. When filtered the water was a lot like prototype number one. The water was yellowish and not as clear as prototype two. However, it didn’t smell as much as prototype one it was more like number two. But the ph just like the others was the same 5.5 to 6 ph. Altogether I believe that the second filter worked best out of all three we made.
Debrief:
At the end of the challenge when we finished and went through all our designs and saw what happened I will happily saw that we did well. Altogether, some of our prototypes failed put from that we learned and improved and that ended up making some good water filters and good results. We finally were able to produce a good working filter that also made clean water. At the end our filter turned the yellowish water into a clear/a little foggy water that didn’t smell as bad and was much cleaner than before, so all together our groups filter was very effective. Materials like the carbon, sand, filter paper, cheese cloth, and sponge remained while other like the crystals and cotton balls were removed for the best design. Most of the filtering materials performed just as I expected like the carbon, sand and a few others. However, some like the cotton balls, crystals, and sand didn’t exactly perform as I expected. I expected the cotton balls to catch more particles and filter the water better, but they just got mushy and collected only a few particles/debris. I expected the crystals to do a lot more however, it did almost nothing for our filter it barely even caught any particles. Finally, the sand it performed well however, I thought that it would be harder for the water to pass through it, but it went through the sand fast or at a medium pace usually. In the future, when I make a water filter, I plan to have a lot more sand and a lot more carbon while adding a little more of the other particles or keeping the same amount of them like before. But, in the end I enjoyed this challenge as I thought is was fun to do and I think that it is a good learning experience as well, I look forward to doing labs like this in the future.
Sites Used:
This video had a lot of good demonstrations and was very informative.
This site gave us a lot of good ideas for our filter.