The purpose of this project was to create an idea that related to water. My group decided to improve an already existing water filter. We used a brita filter and took it apart to find out what was inside. We also tested another brita filter to find out just how effective it was at cleaning water. We then took elements from the brita design that we liked and designed an improved water filter. We were not able to actually create the water filter because we had run out of time.
Content: Solutions - Mixture of two or more substances. Solute - Substance mixed into solvent. Solvent - The substance in which the solute is dissolved. Factors That Affect Solute-Solvent Reaction - Temperature, agitation(stirring/shaking), pressure, nature of solute/solvent. Solubility - Ability to dissolve in a solvent. Saturation - Maximum amount of solute that can be dissolved in solvent. Electrolytes - Solutes dissociate into ions and are surrounded by the solvent. pH Scale - 14-0 scale that measures how basic or acidic a substance is. 7 is neutral, less than 7 is acidic, and more than 7 is basic. Filtration Scale - Shows how water filtration is organized to leave water as clean as possible. This included filtering out particles, dissolved salts, and bacteria. We used this in our project to design our theoretical water filter.
Reflection: I felt that this project did not go as well as it could have. One of the "pits" that our group faced was that we did not COLLABORATE well enough, and were not able to get the project done quickly. Another "pit" was that we did not use enough COMMUNICATION, and we didn't figure out what we were going to do for a long time. One of the "peaks" that our group had was when we finished our design for our theoretical water filter, because we were finally able to get something done. This shows our CRITICAL THINKING skills. Another "peak" of this project was that I showed CHARACTER and took leadership in this project. We weren't getting anything done, so someone had to do something.