lab2

Week 2 LabDavid WhiteheadSCI 207

Instructor WilliamsFebruary 2, 2015Lab 2 Water Quality and ContaminationExperiment 1: Effects of Groundwater ContaminationTable 1: Water Observations (Smell, Color, Etc.)

BeakerObservations

1Just water no smell

2In the water the oil started to bubble at the top. No smell

3The water gets darker as the vinegar is poured in. Not a huge change in smell but a slight odor.

4The water looks cloudy with the detergent.

5The water turned a medium brown. Smells like dirt.

6The water and oil mixture has a light brown color, looks a little cleaner.

7The water and vinegar mixture has a light brown color, looks a little cleaner.

8Same color as the last two. Does have an odor to it.

POST LAB QUESTIONS1. Develop hypotheses on the ability of oil, vinegar, and laundry detergent to contaminate groundwater.

If I put a mixture of potting soil and oil/vinegar/laundry detergent it will make four different types of dirty water.2. Based on the results of your experiment, would you reject or accept each hypothesis that you produced in question 1? Explain how you determined this.If I put a mixture of potting soil and oil/vinegar/laundry detergent it will make four different types of dirty water. Yes, the experiment did confirm my hypothesis since when I added the soil mixture in it did make four dirty types of filthy water. 3. What affects did each of the contaminants have on the water in the experiment? Which contaminant seemed to have the most potent effect on the water?The effects of the contaminated water were that the mixture showed each water type to have a brown color to them. The water type that seemed to have both a surprising and potent effect was the water and soil mixture. I would have thought with using strictly water and potting soil the water turned the darkest brown out of all the other contaminants that I used for the mixture. The vinegar and soil mixture seemed to have cleaner look to them. 4. Using at least 1 scholarly source, discuss what type of affects these contaminants (oil, vinegar, detergent) might have on a towns water source and the people who drank the water?If people were to ingest this contaminated water they might get sick, have birth defects, have trouble having a child, may die. Ground water contamination is nearly always the result of human activity. In areas where population density is high and human use of the land is intensive, ground water is especially vulnerable. Virtually any activity whereby chemicals or wastes may be released to the environment, either intentionally or accidentally, has

the potential to pollute ground water. When ground water becomes contaminated, it is difficult and expensive to clean up(Getting up to speed)5. Describe what type of human activity would cause contaminants like oil, acid and detergents to flow into the water supply? Additionally, what other items within your house do you believe could contaminate the water supply if you were to dump them onto the ground?On a daily basis humans are dumping waste like oil and acid onto their earth without even realizing it. With drilling for oil they risk the occasional oil spill and if humans are taking the proper care of a landfill site they also risk these contaminates to sink into the Earths surface. I believe maybe certain hair care products and possibly bleach could possibly contaminate the water.Experiment 2: Water TreatmentPOST LAB QUESTIONS1. Develop a hypothesis on the ability of your filtration technique to remove contaminants.

If this dirty water can be treated it will then be clean and drinkable water. 2. Based on the results of your experiment, would you reject or accept the hypothesis that you produced in question 1? Explain how you determined this.If this dirty water can be treated it will then be clean and drinkable water. It was confirmed since in the original dirty water it was dark brown and smelled of dirt which is not drinkable. When I filtered through the dirty water it seemed to clean the dirt out of the water and now the water looks like clean water.

3. What are the differences in color, smell, visibility, etc. between the contaminated water and the treated water?The differences between the two are that the treated water is clear for the most part, it has a cloudy look to it, but it is clear and looks like water. The contaminated one is a dark brown and it smells like potting soil and dirt. All of the potting soil has moved to the top of the water in the beaker. 4. From the introduction to this lab, you know that there are typically five steps involved in the water treatment process. Identify the processes (e.g., coagulation) that were used in this lab and describe how they were performed.Answer = Experiment 3: Drinking Water QualityTable 2: Ammonia Test Results

Water SampleTest Results

Tap Water0

Dasani Bottled Water0

Fiji Bottled Water0

Table 3: Chloride Test Results


Tap Water0


Fiji Bottled Water500

Table 4: 4 in 1 Test Results

Water SamplepHTotal AlkalinityTotal ChlorineTotal Hardness

Tap Water480.020


Fiji Bottled Water780.250

Table 5: Phosphate Test Results


Tap Water25


Fiji Bottled Water100

Table 6: Iron Test Results


Tap Water03


Fiji Bottled Water.15

POST LAB QUESTIONS1. Develop a hypothesis on which water source you believe will contain the most and least contaminants.

If all three types of water are tested tap water will come back to be the dirtiest water and Fiji Water will come back to be the cleanest water type.2. Based on the results of your experiment, would you reject or accept the hypothesis that you produced in question 1? Explain how you determined this.If all three types of water are tested tap water will come back to be the dirtiest water and Fiji Water will come back to be the cleanest water type. The hypothesis that I came up with was proven wrong since the Fiji water came back with having the most chemicals and the tap water came back to be the cleanest. 3. Based on the results of your experiment, what major differences, if any, do you notice between the Dasani, Fiji, and tap water?The differences that have stuck out to me the most is the fact that the tap water came back to being soft but the two bottled waters came back to be hard. Tap water seems to be significantly lower in the chemicals and the bottled water had tons of chemicals in them.4. Based on your results, do you believe that bottled water is worth the price? Why or why not?No, tap water is obviously healthier to consume then bottled water since there are less chemicals in it vs. the bottled water. I have also thought tap water was one of the worst things you could consume since I assumed tap water was dirty since there arent as many filters like bottled water but, I was clearly mistaken. *NOTE Do not forget to go toLab 3: Biodiversity, and complete Experiment 1: Diversity of Plants steps 1 through 6.Steps 1 through 6 need to be completed in order to be prepared for Week Three, however, results for this experiment will not be calculated until next week. Thus, while nothing is to be handed in for this experiment until the end of Week Three you must plant the seeds this week to ensure that you can complete week 3 on time.References

Getting Up to Speed for section C,Ground Water Contamination is adapted from US EPA Seminar Publication. Wellhead Protection:A Guide for Small Communities. Chapter 3. EPA/625/R-93/002. eScience Labs, 2013

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