enviro friendly filter paper project

[m0o415]

Hi there,
I'm doing a pre-research for my upcoming science fair project, which is about designing and making a water filter paper made from food waste material or any common foods (like vegetables and rice) and it is used to filter out bacteria in the water making water safe to drink for people around the world who gets sick from drinking contaminated water. I came across with a few questions, and it would be fantastic if you could answer them for me.

1) Is it possible to make paper from just rice, potato, salt, and water? If so how?

2) What kind of edible chemical can I put in the filter paper to kill bacteria in the water? And where can I get it?

3) Is this a Physical science project or is this a Chemistry science project? Since it involves both bacteria and chemical

Thanks

[SciB]

You have the makings of a great project here, but need to work out some details.

Filtering is a physical process. Bacterial cells are removed by passing contaminated water through a substance that has pores so small that the cells are retained by the filter. This will make the water safe to drink. Here is a website that has some ideas: https://knowledgeweighsnothing.com/make ... ing-water/

I did a search for homemade bacteria filters and there are lots of ideas online. I don't know how well they work, but you can test the water for bacteria using nutrient agar plates that can be purchased from Carolina Biosupply https://www.carolina.com/prepared-biolo ... /821862.pr

You may be able to make a kind of filter using rice or potato starch. Do a search online. Otherwise, try sand, clay, charcoal, plant fibers--anything that you can think of that might be available naturally.

In your next question you are asking about antibacterial substances that will kill human pathogens but not harm people. I don't know of a substance that would kill all of the bacteria in contaminated water, and a few cholera or typhoid bacteria are all it takes to make you very sick. Obviously boiling water will kill most harmful bacteria--that's why it is the method of choice.

I would stick with the filtration idea and test some commonly available materials for physically removing bacteria. You can compare the before and after bacterial contamination by plating a drop of the water on a nutrient agar plate and counting the colonies.

Good luck!

Sybee