Solar Still Built!!!

Last Week Working Together (Week 7)

As we work on our project presentation, we also need to fix our filter system. Our system isn’t working properly. When the water condenses it goes up and then comes back down. We are not sure why. We are going to try putting on new plastic. The first way we put it on was not as tight as it should be. Mr. Verkaik said he would buy it for us on wednesday, but he didn’t. Since we didn’t have it we really couldn’t do anything to our filter system. We could only work on our presentation. So we did.
A problem about this week is that Monday was our field trip to Six Flags. Tuesday was also not great because only Schueler and I were at school. We didn’t get as much as we should have gotten done with our whole group. Then the next day Kendall and Megan didn’t show up and it was just Brandon, Schueler, and I. This was on Wednesday. That day we couldn’t do anything to our filter system because Mr. Verkaik didn’t get our  new plastic. We just decided to work on our presentation that day.
On Thursday Kendall finally came back after being sick. This day was also the day we got our new plastic. Now we had a lot to do this day. First, we ripped off our old plastic. Second, we started putting on the new plastic. Lastly, we got dirty water and put it in our filter. Thursday was a hot day to be working outside. We kept taking water breaks because it was so hot. Now we only have this week tuesday to work together as a group. We need to finish this up.

Week 6

This week is our last week to work together, as a group. We have finished building our solar still. Now we are planning a prezi for our final exam. Our Prezi will have to be big if we want all 200 points worth. For our final exam we have to give a 10 minute speech that explains what we did, what we learned, etc. We each have to have a part in our speech if we want to earn full credit. Tuesday was basically our last group day. We are not sure if we will be able to work together again.

As far as mistakes, we haven’t made any huge ones. One mistake was when we found out our bucket had a hole in it. Luckily, Mr. Verkaik had an extra bucket that didn’t have any holes in it. Another mistake is when we fitted the bucket in just right. After we put the plastic on we had no other way to get it out unless we tipped it. To fix this we cut a hole in the side of our filter to get it out. To fill the hole so no critters get in, we put another piece of plastic over the hole. These we some problems that we fixed.

Today we checked our water filter while leaving it outside for a day. Our water collector had clean water in it, but we weren’t sure if it was rain water or what. We just assumed it was rain water. This time we are hoping it won’t rain so we can see if there will be clean water. Now we are done with building our project and we have been working on our presentation. I think I covered everything that has happened this week so far. There isn’t much else to do besides check our project. I’ll get back to you guys next week, bye.

Finishing up on week 5

It is tuesday and we are on week five! We have figured out what we will do for our bottom of the filter. We put a base so that our bucket can stay on it to collect water. Now we need to figure out where the PVC pipe will go and how we will put it on. Mr. Verkaik gave us our Cinder block today. We put that under it to make it stand higher. That way we can fit another bucket under it to collect the clean condensed water. All we basically have left is the plastic which we have to cut and the PVC pipe to put on. After this we should be ready to test it.
Well, Thursday came and we couldn’t work on Wednesday because of a field trip. We will just have to deal with it. Today we have to figure out how we will put the PVC pipe in. We have have a good idea. We decided to put the PVC pipe in the corner of our filter. If we do this then we have to cut the board at the corner for it to fit. Our pipe is long enough so that it won’t make big splashes when the water goes down. Yes, we have accomplished that.
I think this project so far is doing well for my group and I. We haven’t made a huge error yet and we don’t plan to. We have the basics done. The frame and the ramp thing to drop the water are both done. We also have some other things done, like the wood to hold the dirty water bucket. Next week we will probably start getting it done. It should be exciting and fun. I can’t wait to try it and see if our filter worked!

Week 4 Is Here!

Yes, it is finally week 4. It has felt like a while waiting for it to come. This week My group and I are continuing on our filtering system. We have just finished the frame work on Tuesday. Now we are trying to figure out how the water will actually, go down the system so that it come out at the other end, purified. As a group we decided to put Cinder Blocks at the bottom of our system to make it tip a little. Therefore; gravity will push down the water to come out the other end. After this we will have to work on the inside of the system where it will all happen. We have not gotten this far, yet. Eventually we will and as it happens I will update you to let you know what is happening.
Sometimes the group and I get stuck. We don’t know what to do, but we still have to figure it out. We go through this all the time. Like on Tuesday, we were on a step that we couldn’t figure out. After a while we found that we could use a material that we did not have yet. That day we were just done with it because we couldn’t do anything else. That may happen to us, but as a group we fix our problems and come to the conclusion. Even if we don’t come up with a conclusion, we try to think of other ideas we could do.
We are down to our last day of working on our project. We have already measured our angle for our from. The angle will be used to let the water down after it is condensed. As I said, all we still need to continue is the Cinder blocks. Next week we will figure out what else we need to do. I am excited to finish this project. It would be awesome if we got it to work. I will update you next week on how we are doing.

Our Solar Still Design

3rd Week and Progressing

          Week 3 is here and my group and I are progressing. We have made a list of materials we need to create our filtering system. Our group is still waiting to receive our materials. After we get them we can be on our way to building the water filter. The group and I are also trying to figure out what other material we could use besides a PVC pipe. We learned that if a PVC pipe is in extremely hot weather, like Africa has, it could go into flames. That is something we certainly don't want to happen. Other than that, my group is doing great on our project.

Our group is prepared to get started on building our water filter. We know exactly what we need to do. We are still waiting for Mr. Verkaik to give us our materials. He said the latest it will come in is Monday, April 30. As I said we are still looking for other ways to modify our water filter. We have found a few other ways to make it different, but we are not sure if it will work. Our group is still researching many other things that have to do with our topic. As we are doing this, we have found many other water filters and different ways we could build them. We decided we will go with the Solar Still. This will filter dirty polluted water.
As week 3 is here, I have been doing great. I have turned in all my assignments for my project. It has been going great for me and I’m enjoying this project. I think it is better than having normal schedule. This is my opinion though. Other people may think it is a bad idea, but I personally think it is pretty fun. I am excited to get started on building. This has been a great week and I look forward to starting week 4.

First Impression on My Project

           For my project my group and I are going to make a filtration system. This will allow dirty water to be filtered and good to drink. I picked this project because it suits my interests and it seems fun. I like to work in team projects because it is a way to communicate, work, and have fun while you do your project. Right now we are figuring out what our final project will be. As far as we know, our project will consist a filtration system for people in Africa who are in need of clean water. Overall, we will try and help these people and also have fun doing it together. I am looking forward to this great opportunity that and I'm excited to get started on making it.
          On our first week of this project we started researching. We found many interesting facts about the lack of water in Africa. We also found some history of it and how we can fix it. While researching we saw that more than one million people die every year because of the lack of water and sanitation. Since we are making a filtering system we have been looking at many different types of water filters. We are going to build a filter that is attainable for Africa. We plan to make the filter as simple as a normal filter would be. That way it will not be difficult for people to build.
          As my group is progressing, we are finding more facts and history of the lack of water in Africa. We are now working on what are project will consist of. Many of us are thinking about making a type of Aqua Sol or Solar still, which are different types of filtering systems. We have made many sketches, on paper, of what it could look like, but we are still debating. As a group we decided we will make the filtering system a little different than the other systems. By this, we mean we will modify it as we build the  water filter. On google docs we have made a sketch on what it might look like and we displayed the parts. The system is basically what we want it to look like. As far as we are now, we almost know exactly what our final project  will consist of.

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