Filtering Water

Our science investigations into water concluded with a very exciting project: a water filter!

We discussed the differences between water in natural sources like puddles, ponds, lakes, oceans, and rivers and the water that comes out of our faucets at home or in a bottle.

Then, we used a sieve to see how much debris we could remove from a bucket of dirty water–but only the biggest pieces were strained out.

Finally, we built a multi-layer filter to help us remove as much of the debris as possible. While our results were not pure, drinkable water, we were impressed with how much debris was trapped in each layer of the filter: gravel, mesh, sand, and cotton balls.

If you want to recreate this at home, you will need the materials pictured above, as well as two sturdy cups with three small holes poked in the bottom. These cups fit together as shown on the top of the diagram, with a cup to catch the filtered water underneath.