Clean Water for a Thirsty Third World

Overview

Objectives/Goals If you fill a bottle with bad water and use the sun to heat it up, you can kill the bacteria that can make us sick. This can also be a tool for those who don't have good drinking water. Methods/Materials Three solar ovens were made from cardboard, foil, and tape because outside temperatures were low. Four bottles were filled with sump water. I spray painted one bottle all black, one half black, and left two clear. One of the clear bottles was called control because it would not be in the sun. After that three of the bottles were put in the sun to see which would get to 149 degrees for two minutes. Then the water was swabbed onto agar plates to see which had the least growth. Results The water in the all black bottle reached 168 degrees in just two hours. It had the highest temperature and also had the fewest growths on the agar plate. Conclusions/Discussion My conclusion is that some of the bacteria is killed by using the sun and common items we use today.

Competition history

• CSEF 2009 Environmental Engineering (Junior Division Only) · Entry J1131

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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