Water? We Purifying!

By Diego, Vinny, Chris G and Chris K and Zane

Our Goals
We were seeking to replicate the results of P&G powder made from
easily accessible alternatives that we found in our school. P&G
powder is the powder that coagulates (brings together) the harmful
molecules, making them easier to filter. This is called a flocculent.
There are also chlorides that clean the water of everything else and
act as the disinfectant. Our idea is that if there were alternate
chemicals that worked, that it may be possible to make P&G more
inexpensively.
Our Product
There are many differences in the individual chemicals that can
cause the varying results in testing. Our product uses ferrous sulfate
while the real has ferric sulfate. Ours uses calcium chloride
compared to calcium hypochlorite. The ferrous sulfate functions as
the flocculant and the calcium chloride as the disinfectant. In theory
the product will work but it requires testing.
How It Works
As explained in the previous slides we have ferrous
sulfate that Coagulates the harmful molecules making
them easy to filter out with cheap filters. The calcium
chloride acts as our disinfectant by destroying or killing
all microorganisms ending any future growth and
reproduction.
Tests
Test #1: Comparing pH of water samples

We decided that we should record the

pH of each water sample to see how
our product would affect the acidity.
The clean water sample (top) had a
pH of 7.0 and the pond water sample
(bottom) had a pH of 6.0.
Tests
Before After
Test #2: Testing the reference product.

For our project, we based our end product on

the P&G water purification powder. To best
understand the outcome of our product, we
tested the effects of P&G’s powder on a pond
water sample. After the process of filtration, the
water appeared perfectly pure and after testing
the pH, we found that it had a pH of 7.0.
 Before (w/t product) Filtration

Tests
Test #3: Testing our product.

After creating a sample of our powder, we mixed

it in with a sample of the same pond water used End Result
with the P&G powder. Although the process was
slower than the P&G powder, our product still
managed to gather all of the excess particles at
the bottom. We ran it through the filter and
found that the water now had no visible
particles.
 P&G Solution

Tests
Results: A comparison of our product vs. P&G’s

Though they both did their jobs in cleaning the

water of all bacteria and particles, there were
some evident differences between the two results.
Our Solution
The P&G water result was less acid (pH 7.0) and
more transparent while our product’s result was
not dangerously acidic (pH 6.0), but still could
cause corrosion to the consumer’s teeth. The
appearance of the water was also murkier than
the opposing solution.
Shortcomings and Solutions
There were a few problems along the way…

● Lack of materials (ferrous sulfate instead of ferric sulfate)

● Time management
● Overplanning

How we solved them…

● Finding out alternate methods of performing the same actions

● Task setting
● Prioritizing certain ideas over others