Water From Mud
Most recent answer: 10/22/2007
Q:
How do you get fresh drinking water from muddy water?
- Dylan M (age 12)
Victoria
- Dylan M (age 12)
Victoria
A:
Hi Dylan,
There are two ways to get water to drink from a muddy mess, evaporation and filtration.
Filtration is a process where the water is pumped through a porous material. A porous material has very small holes that water can pass through, but dirt and other pollutants cannot. This works well because water molecules are much smaller than the organic materials that are making the water muddy. Porous materials are made from woven natural fibers such as cotton, woven or stretched materials such as nylon and even certain special solid ceramic disks.
Evaporation uses relatively low boiling point of water to separate it from the other compounds. To get the water you would need to place the muddy water in a sealed container with a spout at the top. Attach one end of a hose to the spout and put the other end in a glass. When you put a heat source below the container with the mud, the water will begin to boil and evaporate. As it evaporates it will rise and the steam will get pushed into the hose.
The steam will cool in the hose if heat is allowed to flow by conduction, convection, or radiation away from the hose. A rubber garden hose may not be the best for this purpose as rubber makes a not-so-bad thermal insulator. A long metal pipe may be the best bet here. As the steam cools it will condense back into water and will drip out the other end of the pipe (make sure it is tilted downwards in the direction of a collection cup and not back into the container with the muddy water). In the end your will have all the water in the glass and all the dirt left in the sealed container.
James
There are two ways to get water to drink from a muddy mess, evaporation and filtration.
Filtration is a process where the water is pumped through a porous material. A porous material has very small holes that water can pass through, but dirt and other pollutants cannot. This works well because water molecules are much smaller than the organic materials that are making the water muddy. Porous materials are made from woven natural fibers such as cotton, woven or stretched materials such as nylon and even certain special solid ceramic disks.
Evaporation uses relatively low boiling point of water to separate it from the other compounds. To get the water you would need to place the muddy water in a sealed container with a spout at the top. Attach one end of a hose to the spout and put the other end in a glass. When you put a heat source below the container with the mud, the water will begin to boil and evaporate. As it evaporates it will rise and the steam will get pushed into the hose.
The steam will cool in the hose if heat is allowed to flow by conduction, convection, or radiation away from the hose. A rubber garden hose may not be the best for this purpose as rubber makes a not-so-bad thermal insulator. A long metal pipe may be the best bet here. As the steam cools it will condense back into water and will drip out the other end of the pipe (make sure it is tilted downwards in the direction of a collection cup and not back into the container with the muddy water). In the end your will have all the water in the glass and all the dirt left in the sealed container.
James
(published on 10/22/2007)