Build an Irrigation System
![]() IntroductionIrrigation, or the artificial application of water to crops, has been used by humans for thousands of years. Ancient civilizations build complex irrigation systems without the aid of modern technology or construction equipment. Can you design a model irrigation system using some simple household materials? Try this project to find out!
This activity is not appropriate for use as a science fair project. Good science fair projects have a stronger focus on controlling variables, taking accurate measurements, and analyzing data. To find a science fair project that is just right for you, browse our library of over 1,200 Science Fair Project Ideas or use the Topic Selection Wizard to get a personalized project recommendation.
BackgroundIrrigation systems can be vital for growing crops in areas that do not otherwise receive enough rainfall to sustain them. They are even used in areas that are near natural water sources like lakes and rivers, to help evenly distribute water amongst the crops. Modern irrigation systems can rely on heavy construction equipment to dig miles of trenches and pumps that can suck water up from deep underground. Electrical power allows us to distribute water through miles of piping across farm fields. How did ancient civilizations manage to build irrigation systems thousands of years ago? They took many different approaches – for example, they could divert the natural flow of a river towards their crops, use lakes as reservoirs to store extra water for dry seasons, or rely on gravity-powered systems to channel rainwater coming down a mountainside. In this project you will build a simple model irrigation system using plastic cups and straws, powered by nothing but gravity. Can you design a system that evenly distributes water among different cups, simulating how a real irrigation system would send equal amounts of water to different fields? Materials
Preparation
Procedure
Extra: make this project an engineering design challenge. The instructions only tell you how to build a very simple model irrigation system, but this should be enough to get you started. Here are some additional challenges you can try. Feel free to try using other materials that are not listed in the materials section above:
Extra: there are also some scientific experiments you can do based on this project. What happens if you change the angles of the straws, making them steeper or shallower? Does this change how much water each cup receives? What if you change how fast you pour the water (e.g. pour the water so fast that the first cup fills up before it has time to drain through the straws, vs pouring the water slowly so it drains through the straws right away). Observations and ResultsWhen you pour water into the central cup, it should start flowing into the other cups once it reaches the straws. This occurs because gravity pulls the water through the straws, which are angled downward since you made the holes in the first cup higher than the holes in the other cups. To get equal amounts of water in each cup, it is important to have the straws in the central cup all at the same height. If one straw is higher than another, the cup it leads to will not receive as much water (or any water at all, depending on how slowly you pour the water – if you pour slowly enough, all of the water might go through the lower straw). You might experience some leaks through the modeling clay seals, which is why it’s a good idea to do this project where it’s OK to spill some water! Cleanup
More to Explore
If you like this activity, you might enjoy exploring these related careers:
Log in to add favorite
More Menu
Career Profile
Have you ever visited a new city and marveled at how nice looking it was? Perhaps the streets were wide, the public places were well organized, and the parks and gardens were green and had lots of attractive plants. Well, what you experienced was a well-balanced and designed landscape plan put together by a landscape architect. Landscape architects design everything that is outside of buildings. Their goal is to make a design that is functional, but one that is well balanced with nature and in…
Log in to add favorite
More Menu
Career Profile
Water is critical to the survival of virtually all the living things that you see around you. It is essential to the production of most of the things that people make, too. Hydrologists are the people who study and manage this remarkable resource. Through data gathered from satellite instruments, hydrologists examine and create computer models that show how water moves above, on, and under the earth. With these models, hydrologists work to conserve water, to predict droughts or floods, to find…
CreditsBen Finio, PhD, Science Buddies
This activity was inspired by: Lesson: Way to Flow – Water Irrigation, by eGFI ReviewsReviews |
Key Concepts
Water resource management
|
Explore Our Science Videos
How to Build a Brushbot
|
Make Fake Snow - Craft Your Science Project
|
How to Make Elephant Toothpaste
|