Weather in Athens

For my action project for my STEAM class I was told to create a slideshow about any city I wanted to choose. I chose Athens, because I've always wanted to go to Greece and I thought it would be good to research before I try to go. This project did slightly changed my mind after doing my research, because previously I never knew how bad the CO2 emmisions are in Athens. I would still go since Athens would be warm and sunny due to the CO2. 

Water Filter

For my second action project in my water class I was told to create a water filter. My filter had to get rid of contaminants and particulates, as well as changing the pH level of the water to a 7. To figure out the pH level of the water I used a digital pH reader. To show my proccess and results I took pictures and showed the change in the pH level of the water. It was't hard to build the filter and it worked pretty well. The only thing I had a problem with was getting materials, but I solved that problem pretty easily by going to Pet Smart and getting them.

I wanted everything in my filter to be completley snaitized which is why I bought all my materials. I believed that if I found all my materials then my results wouldn't work as well as store bought materials.

The filter will work since it is the same proccess the earth that filters ground water. Larger gaps will filter larger particles and smaller gaps will filter smaller particles. I layered my materials so that the largest gaps are at the top and the smallest are at the bottom. The water slowly trickled through the filter, the natural strainer left the particlulates behind.

Materials List:

• A plastic bottle
• A knife
• A coffee filter
• Activated charcoal
• Sand
• Gravel
• A container for the water 
• A digital pH reader

Steps:

1. First cut the bottom of the plastic bottle so there is a hole to pour your materials into.
2. Place the coffee filter between the the cap of the bottle and the bottle.
3. Poke some holes in the cap to let water drip through when you use the filter.
4. Make sure the the side of the water bottle with the cap is facing downwards and add a layer of Activated Charcoal into the bottle that fills about a third of the bottle.
5. Add a thick layer of sand 
6. Add the final layer of gravel

I tested my water filter three times. 

1. The first time I filtered it the water was translucent from the side (almost transparent), clear with slight grey color, cloudy, and no odor.
2. The water was transparent,clear, no odor.
3. The last time I tested it the water was transparent,clear, no odor.

Before I tested the waterit was Nasty, Dark Brown, had particulates and smelled like coffee.

Works Cited

• "How to Make a Water Filter." WikiHow. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.

Finding My Water Usage

Finding My Water Usage

 This action project for H2O, (a STEAM course) was about finding how much water I use, and how my personal data compares to the rest of the world.

I began by figuring out how much water I use per day using close observation. I was able to figure out I use somewhere around 78 gallons per day. My initial guess for how much water I use was 50 gallons, so I use a lot more than I expected. I was kind of sad to realize that because I had figure out how long it would take me to get to my water for the day if I had to go to my nearest water source and back. I decided I would hold two gallons and it would take me about 6.5 hours to get my water every day. I'm sure I could do it faster if I have a trashcan of water and I use the wheels on the bottom then I can roll larger amounts of water  from my nearest water source.

After figuring out how long it would take me to get my water per day, I chose 4 categories of water usage and I figured out individually how much water I use for each one. The categories I chose were showering, brushing my teeth, washing my hands, and my toilet. All of the water I use (per day) together is 69 gallons. Below I wrote my collected Data

• Showering for me uses 50 gallon and was the largest percentage and it was 74.1% of my graph.
• Using the toilet used 12 gallons and was 15.3% of my graph.
• Brushing my teeth used 2 gallons and was the smallest percentage and was  2.5%  of my graph.
• Washing my hands used 5 gallons and was at 6.1%  of my graph.

I compared my data with the averages of water in the UK. Taking a bath there uses about 80 liters, a five minute shower is 45 liters, a full load in the washing machine can take up to 100 liters, and it can take up to 20 liters to run a dishwasher.

Citations;

Felicity Lawrence.”Revealed: the massive scale of UK's water consumption.” 19 August 2008.http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/aug/20/water.food1

"How Much Water do You Use".14 Sept. 2015.http://www.cambridge-water.co.uk/customers/how-much-water-do-you-use.