Tap water is no longer safe to drink if contaminated with heavy metals such as lead. These guys' project tries to put a solution to this problem
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himThe next generation of scientists and inventors are already finding new ideas to solve the problems that grip our society - and fortunately there are associations and competitions specifically aimed at stimulating the creativity and inventiveness of the youngest to put it at the service of the world to come. .
An example of this is the virtuous competition organized by theAmerican Chemical Society (ACS), which saw the participation of many schoolchildren all over the United States: ACS Spring 2022 is the name of this special competition that will end tomorrow, during which over 12.000 scientific presentations made by pupils and their teachers.
Specifically, a group of high school students came up with an affordable but effective solution for solve the problem of tap water contamination, which many people do not drink as it is not drinkable.
It is an “intelligent” filter made of biodegradable plastic, capable of blocking lead particles and letting only water pass through. The difference with traditional filters is that this filter "signals" when its effectiveness is over, causing the water flowing from the tap to turn yellow.
The idea of a water filter that could help ordinary people in their daily life came to the teacher Rebecca Bushway, who coordinated the student-inventor team, after seeing a Michigan woman turn on the tap on TV and show it was brown:
Seeing that video got me thinking: Since there isn't really a safe level of lead in your drinking water, it wouldn't be nice to have a water filter that can warn you if your water is contaminated, well before this. become visibly brown due to the presence of lead?
Lead contamination in households is a problem that afflicts a large part of the population of the United States, especially the one who lives in poor and low-income neighborhoods. There are currently millions of homes in the country where water comes in through lead pipes, which can corrode on contact with water - causing the release of toxic metal particles that are not always visible.
The solution to the problem is the installation of household filters, very often expensive and unattainable for less well-off families, who generally do not indicate when it is time to be replaced but who continue to let water flow which gradually becomes more and more contaminated.
The new filter developed by the students, on the other hand, is as small as those used in camping, cheap (the cost is about a dollar) and moreover completely biodegradable, so as not to pollute. The students made this using the school's 3D printer and filled the replaceable cartridges with a mixture of calcium phosphate, an element that mixes with lead dissolved in water and traps it.
Follow your Telegram | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | Youtube
Fonte: American Chemical Society
We also recommend:
- Lead exposure in childhood can affect not only health, but adult personality as well (and not for the better)
- Water purifiers: is it better reverse osmosis or microfiltration? Differences, costs and maintenance
- Bottled water causes 3.500 times more environmental damage than tap water
