The objective of this lesson is for students to learn the location of water and the importance of water to life. Students will learn about osmosis, soil samples, salinity, and more.
Students learn about the techniques engineers have developed for changing ocean water into drinking water, including thermal and membrane desalination. They begin by reviewing the components of the natural water cycle. They see how filters, evaporation and/or condensation can be components of engineering desalination processes. They learn how processes can be viewed as systems, with unique objects, inputs, components and outputs, and sketch their own system diagrams to describe their own desalination plant designs.
Watch the water molecules move in this osmosis simulation.
This experiment tests the effect of high salt soil concentrations on plant growth.