water filter

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Jhanviiiiiiiii
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Joined: Thu Nov 18, 2021 6:00 pm
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water filter

Post by Jhanviiiiiiiii »

hi,
I did the experiment where you have to test what is more effective; charcoal activated powder or the granules.
The granulated one worked but the charcoal powder one turned black. Is this supposed to happen? What is the end result for this experiment?


[Project: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... king-water ]
AmyCowen
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Re: water filter

Post by AmyCowen »

Hi - This is a good experiment to look at how activated carbon can be used for filtering. In the experiment, you test both granular and powdered forms. What was your hypothesis going into the experiment?

Based on the background reading (and additional research you may have done), what did you expect to happen with the powdered form? The background information talks a lot about the surface area of the two forms.

So in your experiment, using the granulated activated carbon, the colored water came through "how clear"?

And using the powdered form, it came through black?

While we can't tell you what the results of the experiment should be, it does sound like there was a problem in the experiment.

The likely culprit might be the filters. That is where I would suggest you begin your troubleshooting. The project has you set up stacks of four filters for each test. Did you use four? (If you didn't use enough filter material, it might be that the powder, which is finer than the other form, simply came through the filter.)

I would go back to your setup and make sure that you had enough filter material and confirm that all of your setup matches the directions.

I know from your other email that your project is due soon. You may simply have to write up what happened and what you suspect may have accounted for the results you saw or what you could try differently if you continued or redid this in the future. You can't present results you didn't see. So you need to write up what you did observe/what happened. In analyzing your results and writing a conclusion, you can talk more about this.

Amy
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