Share Fair (part 2)- Desalination Project

adding salt to our desalinators (2 were high salinity and 2 were low salinity) 

desalinators ready to desalinate- little rocks in the middle of the plastic wrap to ensure water drips into the collection cups

the big reveal

it worked!

tasting the water was hilarious

measuring what we got in the collection cups

low salinity water got more clear water out

at the fair!

our super awesome homeschooling assistance program teachers Mr. Dan and Ms. Kathryn

We had so much fun with this project. At first we worried about it being a bit too advanced for Siena, but it really wasn't and it was a perfect end of school year project- it allowed us to incorporate so much learning. From why fresh clean water matters and how difficult it is to come by in so many places of the world, to the water cycle, evaporation, salinization, measuring and math, and she loved it all! We were so proud listening to her answer all the questions so carefully and thoughtfully, so that for example when she didn't know the answer- like why did the water with the high salt content become less red (we dyed the water with beets)- she answered it might be because it was exposed to the sun (and while I think that isn't right- I am guessing that as the water evaporated there was more salt left and so more salt to bind the impurities including beet color), it was probably my favorite answer of hers exactly because she didn't know the answer. Silly what sorts of things moms are proud of:)

By the way we got the idea for this project here at sciencebuddies.org and it is a really great website with hundreds of science fair ideas!