Which Charcoal Water Filter Works Best?

Voiceover

Presenter(s)(s)

Walter Johnson

Abstract or Description

Introduction:  Water filtration is a method to remove particles from suspension in water. The products that are filtered out of water most commonly are dirt, silt, and sand. One common way to filter water is with activated charcoal. I wanted to evaluate different water filters.  

Motivation: Clean water is important in many basic activities in life. Filtration helps to separate chemicals and bacteria from water. Knowing the best type of water filter is valuable.  

Problem Statement:  I am trying to discover which material is most effective in filtering water at home by testing a plain filter, a filter with granulated charcoal and a filter with powdered charcoal.  

Approach:  I built the three types of filters and tested their ability to filter dye from water. I repeated the tests two times to get an average of the water filtering ability of each filter.  

Results:  Filters with charcoal are better at filtering out particles than plain filters. The most effective filter of those tested was powdered charcoal.  

Conclusion: Powdered charcoal is a good filter for water. This can be used in an emergency situation when clean water is needed and usual methods are not available. This type of filter may not change the world, but it can help in many situations.