Water Purification and Filtration

Everyone’s interested in drinking the purest water possible. In his project, Ian Boblit tested how effective different types of water filters are at eliminating chlorine from tap water.

Ian Boblit’s project display is shown in the figure.

Figure: Project display for “Drinking water purification and filtration.”

Hypothesis

I believe that carbon block filters are the most effective at blocking chlorine, and that of the carbon block filters, the carafe-style filter will be the most effective.

Experimental variables

Type of water filter used

Measured variables

Amount of chlorine in each water sample

Controls

Amount and type of water used

Experimental groups

• Faucet-mounted filtered water
• Carafe-style carbon block filter
• Refrigerator-mounted carbon block filter
• Pool water

Control groups

Plain tap water

Materials

• Kit for testing chlorine
• Plain tap water
• Faucet-mounted filtered water
• Carafe-style carbon block filter
• Refrigerator-mounted carbon block filter
• Pool water

Procedures

For each of three trials, do the following:

1. Test a sample of plain tap water and record the amount of chlorine.
2. Test a sample of pool water and record the amount of chlorine.
3. Filter tap water through the three types of filters and record the amount of chlorine.

Results

The table shows the amount of chlorine in each different water sample.

Table                           Amount of Chlorine in Different Water Samples

The figure shows the average amount of chlorine in water samples for all three tests.

Graph of average amounts of chlorine in all water samples.

Conclusions

My hypothesis that a carbon block filter was most effective at removing chlorine was correct. However, I incorrectly stated that the carafe-style filter would be the most effective. The refrigerator-style filter actually proved to be the most effective.

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