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Lab 2 – Water Quality and Contamination

Experiment 1: Effects of Groundwater Contamination

Table 1: Water Observations (Smell, Color, Etc.)
Beaker	Observations
1	Water is a little cloudy white color, no smell
2	Lots of bubbles, the oil seems to stay together, not really much of a smell, yellow tint
3	Bubbly, has a strong smell, the bubbles are separated unlike the oil.
4	Green in color, smells good, a few bubbles, the bubbles seem to stick to the walls of the beaker
5	Water is brown, doesn’t have a smell
6	The oil went through the soil not all of it but a lot of it, it is not as brown as the plain water, the bubbles are separated
7	The vinegar came through, the bubbles are much smaller, the bubbles seem to be on the top more than anything
8	The color is a dirty green and there are a lot more bubbles then just with water, the bubbles are just on top

POST LAB QUESTIONS

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

a. Oil hypothesis = My hypothesis is that the soil will not be able to stop the oil from reaching our groundwater.

b. Vinegar hypothesis = My hypothesis is that the soil will stop the vinegar from reaching groundwater.

c. Laundry detergent hypothesis = My hypothesis is that the soil will stop the vinegar from reaching groundwater.

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.

a. Oil hypothesis accept/reject = I accept because the oil went through the soil like I expected.

b. Vinegar hypothesis accept/reject = I reject because I thought the soil would have stopped the vinegar from getting to the water

c. Laundry detergent hypothesis accept/reject = I reject because like with the vinegar I thought the soil would have stopped the detergent.

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?

Answer = All of the contaminants had bubbles in them weather it was just a few or if it was a lot.

4. Using at least one scholarly source, discuss what type of affects these contaminants (oil, vinegar, detergent) might have on a town’s water source and the people who drank the water?

Answer =

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?

Answer = I think maybe after cooking throwing the oil outside in the grass instead of disposing of it correctly. I think gas, cleaning products, and insect killers.

Experiment 2: Water Treatment

POST LAB QUESTIONS

1. Develop a hypothesis on the ability of your filtration technique to remove contaminants.

Hypothesis = My hypothesis is that filtration techniques can get rid of a lot of contaminants but I don’t think it does all.

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.

Accept/Reject = I would reject my hypothesis because the filter system did work to clean the water.

3. What are the differences in color, smell, visibility, etc. between the “contaminated” water and the “treated” water?

Answer = The differences are the color of the contaminated water is much darker then the filtered water, the smell of the soil is a lot stronger in the contaminated water. The treated water is still a little brown but not bad.

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 = Take the soil and mix with water make sure it’s all mixed up then make the filter system with the sand charcoal, and rocks, next filter water through the filtration system to clean the charcoal, next filter the contaminated water, last compare the contaminated and treated water.

Experiment 3: Drinking Water Quality

Table 2: Ammonia Test Results
Water Sample	Test Results
Tap Water	0
Dasani® Bottled Water	0
Fiji® Bottled Water	0

Table 3: Chloride Test Results
Water Sample	Test Results
Tap Water	0
Dasani® Bottled Water	0
Fiji® Bottled Water	0

Table 4: 4 in 1 Test Results
Water Sample	pH	Total Alkalinity	Total Chlorine	Total Hardness
Tap Water	7	1.0	80	120
Dasani® Bottled Water	5	0.2	40	50
Fiji® Bottled Water	7	1.0	40	120

Table 5: Phosphate Test Results
Water Sample	Test Results
Tap Water	50
Dasani® Bottled Water	0
Fiji® Bottled Water	10

Table 6: Iron Test Results
Water Sample	Test Results
Tap Water	0.15
Dasani® Bottled Water	0
Fiji® Bottled Water	0

POST LAB QUESTIONS

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

Hypothesis = My hypothesis is that Fiji water will have more contaminants then the tap water and Dasani water and I think the tap water will have the least amount.

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.

Accept/reject = I would reject because Fiji water had the most contaminants but dasani had the lease.

3. Based on the results of your experiment, what major differences, if any, do you notice between the Dasani, Fiji, and tap water?

Answer = For the most part everything was pretty much the same except for the 4 in 1 test. There were a lot of differences between the waters but the most comparable would be the Fiji water and tap water.

4. Based on your results, do you believe that bottled water is worth the price? Why or why not?

Answer = If you are getting Fiji water I will say no but Dasani I will say yes. I would like to have checked out the different waters drink like nestle or anything of that sort to see the difference.

References

Any sources utilized should be listed here.

© eScience Labs, 2013