Now You See It, Once Filtered, Hope you Don't

Water is a valuable natural resource and resides in multiple reservoirs: the cryosphere, geosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere. Water quality is often jeopardized by various contaminants but can be improved by removing contaminants from the water whether they are macro (dirt and debris,) micro (bacteria) or nano (metallic ions and small organic molecules.) Students will work in 4 groups to search the Internet for information related to water and filtration. After this pre-lab, they will compare two filter mediums (activated carbon and zeolite) to determine the efficiency of each. Students will construct and use their own filtration system.

Note:  This lab requires Vernier Lab Quest in particular: Vernier Spectro Vis and Vernier Conductivity Probe. It also requires students to use the Jigsaw method to do their Internet research.