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Filter funnel engineering

ECG Bulletin January 2021
Design and test your own filtration materials to clean a sample of dirty water. Compare your work to clean and dirty samples, just like environmental scientists do.

Filtering water to make it clean enough for drinking is important work for environmental chemists. Good filters must remove particulate matter (visible bits of dirt), discolouration (dissolved materials) and even some invisible contaminants, like bacteria. Sometimes one filter just won’t do, and several materials have to be used in series.

You’ll need
Large plastic bottle              
Scissors                                  
Clean and dirty water
Empty cup
Picture
Instructions
  1. Cut the top ~5 cm off the plastic bottle and remove the lid to make a filter funnel.
  2. Balance your filter funnel in an empty cup.
  3. Stuff with a filter material (e.g. Cotton wool balls,).
  4. Pour in the dirty water, collecting the filtered water in the cup below, saving a little dirty water for comparison.
  5. Compare your filtered water to your original dirty water and some clean tap water.
  6. Please don’t drink the filtered water. It may still contain invisible contaminants!
 
Challenge
Experiment with different materials in different orders to design your own filter. How clean can you get the water?

Try
Cotton wool balls, baking paper, cloths, sponges … and anything else you can think of!
filter_funnel_engineering.pdf
File Size: 2465 kb
File Type: pdf
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  • Home
  • About
    • Committee
    • Annual reports
  • Environmental Briefs
  • Distinguished Guest Lectures
    • 2022 Disposable Attitude: Electronics in the Environment >
      • Steve Cottle
      • Ian Williams
      • Fiona Dear
    • 2019 Radioactive Waste Disposal >
      • Juliet Long
    • 2018 Biopollution: Antimicrobial resistance in the environment >
      • Andrew Singer
      • Celia Manaia
    • 2017 Inside the Engine >
      • Frank Kelly
      • Claire Holman
      • Jacqui Hamilton
      • Simon Birkett
    • 2016 Geoengineering >
      • Alan Robock
      • Joanna Haigh
      • David Santillo
      • Mike Stephenson
    • 2015 Nanomaterials >
      • Eugenia Valsami-Jones
      • Debora F Rodrigues
      • David Spurgeon
    • 2014 Plastic debris in the ocean >
      • Richard Thompson
      • Norman Billingham
    • 2013 Rare earths and other scarce metals >
      • Thomas Graedel
      • David Merriman
      • Michael Pitts
      • Andrea Sella
      • Adrian Chapman
    • 2012 Energy, waste and resources >
      • RAFFAELLA VILLA
      • PAUL WILLIAMS
      • Kris Wadrop
    • 2011 The Nitrogen Cycle – in a fix?
    • 2010 Technology and the use of coal
    • 2009 The future of water >
      • J.A. (Tony) Allen
      • John W. Sawkins
    • 2008 The Science of Carbon Trading >
      • Jon Lovett
      • Matthew Owen
      • Terry barker
      • Nigel Mortimer
    • 2007 Environmental chemistry in the Polar Regions >
      • Eric Wolff
      • Tim JICKELLS
      • Anna Jones
    • 2006 The impact of climate change on air quality >
      • Michael Pilling
      • GUANG ZENG
    • 2005 DGL Metals in the environment: estimation, health impacts and toxicology
    • 2004 Environmental Chemistry from Space
  • Articles, reviews & updates
    • Articles
    • Reviews
    • Updates
  • Meetings
    • Upcoming meetings
    • Meeting reports
  • Resources
  • Professional Qualifications
  • Index