Information About Science Fair Water Filter

Filters

Many different projects suitable for a wide variety of grade levels can be used to illustrate water filtration for a science fair. You first need to decide what kind of filtration you want to illustrate. This choice will depend on the materials you have and how much time there is to complete the project.

Water Treatment Kits

Many different water treatment kits are available to use for science fairs, and they're designed to help students demonstrate the effects of water treatment in simple ways. These kits include different types of filters and chemical treatments, with the test strips and materials necessary to show the difference between filtered and unfiltered water. They also include charts for comparison and making data tables.

Basic Filter Projects

Filter projects compare one filtration substance against another. A student could, for instance, filter water using different types of cloth to see what type does the best job of filtering muddy water and what type is the closest to the filters used in commercial filtration devices. Different types of water, including saltwater, can be used, and different types of materials can be used for filters, including cotton or basic coffee filters.

Magnetic Water Treatment

Magnetic water filtration is designed to removed metallic particles from the water before they can form scale in pipes. This is an ideal experiment, because very strong magnets can be used in a homemade system, and the benefits of magnetic filtration are hotly debated. This experiment allows students to examine an ongoing issue while building a filter of their own (magnetic water treatment kits are also available online).

Reverse Osmosis

Reverse osmosis filters are some of the best and most popular filters currently on the market. They are typically installed as part of plumbing features, and it may be difficult to find a reverse osmosis filter that can be demonstrated in a science project. Reverse osmosis filters are usually part of the plumbing system itself and are contained in pipes, or they are self-contained units and the filtration they do isn't visible. A good alternative is a research project examining how these microfilters work and why they are so effective at removing particles from water.

Carbon Filters

Carbon filters are designed to remove specific types of particles from water, especially particles that cause odor and chemical compounds that can harm the human body. Carbon filters are easier to experiment with and can open the way for projects that deal with a wide variety of additional alternative filters, such as ultraviolet and charcoal.

References

• Juliantrubin: Science Fair Project Guide
• Sciencefairadventure: Filtration of Water
• ei-resource: Water Filtration and Home Water Filters