Weeks 3 and 4

Week 3 and Week 4

• The initial design including the air pump was discarded for an alternative design that is more compact. The new design involves a helical path for the water to flow through, maintaining the necessary length of path while making the container itself more compact.

Current design with helical path

• All necessary supplies were accumulated including:
• 8 feet of plastic tubing with 1/4 inch diameter
• 10 feet of PVC piping with 1/2 inch diameter
• funnel with 1/4 inch diameter
• 3110.5 grams of sand
• a two liter bottle 
• 5.6-6.0 grams of iron filings
• a cup of gravel
• Schuylkill River water with an initial turbidity reading of 5.92 NTU 
• H2 Hold Epoxy

Funnel with 1/4 inch diameter

Gravel

PVC with 1/2 inch diameter

Sand

Schuylkill River Water

Epoxy

Plastic tubing with 1/4 inch diameter

Iron Filings

• Week 3 team members went to 10th Street Hardware, where the plastic tubing, PVC, funnel, and epoxy were acquired. Between materials and subway tokens, each member contributed roughly 7 dollars to the materials. 

• Week 4 class included going to the river to collect water in the 5 gallon drum along with going to the soil lab to collect the sand, gravel, and iron filings. The turbidity level was also determined in the soil lab.