M Gmail 15 Year Olds Modified Your Xylem Water Filter Experiment 2messages Aurora LaPorte KO gmail.com> Fi, May 27, 2016 at 11:51 PM To: MG mit. cas Professor Karnik, First of all, | wanted to say thank you, Your research on using trees to fiter water inspired me to create a similar experiment, though much more simplified, You ‘see, I'ma freshman at Glencoe High Schoo! in Oregon, and unfortunately we don’t have the resources a my School to do an in-depth analysis of the bacteriain our water. All of cur data was based off of the pH of the water when we tock it ‘out of the Glencoe wetlands (part of the wetlands happens to be on my school's campus), and the pH of the water after we ran it trough the branches of 3 of the most common trees in our afea (all ee branches were cut to around 3 inches). ‘The trees in question were a Douglas fir, a cherry tree, and a Hawthorne (though the Hanthome is technically classified as a shrub). The water we took from the wetlands was very acidic at a pH cf 5.71, and was not safe to drink at all. It was murky and almost black in color. After we ran it through just the tee branches, however, we found that all the trees filtered the water to a pH of above 7, regardless of them being deciducus or conifercus. (When | say “we" I am referting to my two friends who partnered with me on this project) To fier the water through the tree branches, we created an extremely modified version of your filter. One of the focuses of our experiment was lo creaie a workable flter that would be more easily accessible by those who need it the most, e.g. those in developing countries, who would probably not have access to the plastic tubing or metal belt thing used to ‘secure the branch to the tube used in your research. At first we tried pulling a plastic bag through a paper towel rol making a hole for the branch by pushing it through the bottom of the bag, and securing the bag to the paper towel roll with hair ties. It's kind of tricky to explain, so here's a picture of it.| am holding it at the bottom, where it meets the tree branch, to ensure that the water wouldn’ leak cut. Fortunately, it didnt, instead dripping cut slowly through the bottom at the tee branchIn the cup on the right is the water before being put through the tree branch (This was the Douglas tir), and in the cup on. the left (directly below the tree branch) is the water after. The water was already significantly cleaner in both appearance and pH. We also brainstormed other methods for getting the water through the tree branch, lice hollowing aut just the top ‘of the branch and pouring the water into the cup4ike hole it formed, and even just putting the vee branch directy on the ‘end of a water bottle, but ended up using this paper-towel method for our actual experiment. Here is a visual of one of the cther mathads we considered’ This picture is actually of candle holders made out of trees because we didn't have time to create a prototype of our idea, but it gets our main point across pretty well ‘We also ran the water through the branches in combination with an activated carbon filter we created, with the activated carbon filter on ton and the branch attached to the bottom of the filter with hair ties and a copious amount of duct tape. “Tho pH of the water aftor going through both the fier and the tree branches was mere alkaline, canging from 7.48 (tho Hawthome branch) to 7.52 (the Douglas fi). We did not have a single water sample thai went through a branch, or branch and flies, that did not have a drinkable pH (6.5 - 8.5).We presented this project at the Gk-12 conference at Portland State University just yesterday, and aur experiment wen, first place. Because of the simple nature of our research and the time constraints given to us to collect our data and complete our project (one 90 minute class period) | am very interested in continuing to research simple, easily accessible ways to improve water quality. (ne thing that has interested me is the elimination of viruses through water filtration. Though we now know that the xylem in trees eliminates most bacteria in the water (thanks to your research) whether or not it can trap most viruses remains unknown. Though there has been research shawing that viruses cannot survive at certain pH levels | have no way to know for sure at this point that any viruses were eliminated through filtration through the trees. As | said before, | am very interested in continuing to learn more about this and want to try to find new ways to make water filtration easier, safer, and cheaper for those nearly 2.5 billion people lacking access to clean water and sanitation. hope you dont mind if 1 ask you.a couple questions about your research, and | completely understand if you don't have the time to answer them. I'm sure you'e very busy and Iam very grateful to you for inspiring me to create this ‘experiment and for reading this very long email (Sorry for the length!) Questions: -Did you try ether methods besides the plastic tubing to filter the water through the branch? If so, what were they? -Why did you choose the tree that you chose? Did you choose other trees, and if so, did any of them not filer the water to a drinkable level? If they didnt, then why? -What if the trees someone chooses to filer water from are sick? Woudd the disease spread to the water? Would the vee ‘even be able to filter the water? Has any other followup research been done on this yet? If So, what was it? -How come this method of water filtration is not more common, especially when it uilizes such a cheap and abundant resource (trees) that are available no matter where you are in the world? -Did you ar anyone else drink the water after you fitered it? if so, dd it taste like normal tap water or did it have a tinge of something else (lke the tee itself)? -Do you have any suggestions or advice for anyone wanting to continue doing research in this field? ‘Thank you for taking the time to read this email; I would love to hear any feedback or constructive ciiticism you might have. I know my experiment was vary simple and I would definitely like to imprave and expand my research in any way | can, ‘Thank you again! “Aurora LaPorte Rohit N Karnik ING mit.odu> Mon, May 30, 2016 at 12:15 PM To: Aurora LaPorte SN @ oral com> Hi Aurora, Very glad to hear about your project - and congratulations on the award! I thirk Douglas fir wont be very good at it. Virus rejection should be possible with longer sections of floviering plants, lixe cherty. Ive attempted to answer your ‘questions below,“Rohit -Did you try other methods besides the plastic tubing to filter the water through the branch? If so, what were they? ‘Weve tied plastic tubing with glue and clamps, gasket-based holders, and also gravity driven flow by placing the filter at the bottom end of a long (~3 fi) tube. All of them work. One of the things that does not work well for large volumes is driving flow using gas (as reported in the paper). -Why did you choose the tree that you chose? Did you choose other trees, andif so, did any of them not filter the water toa drinkable level? If they didnt, then why? Weve tried pine because its easily available. Recently we also tried cedar and gingko, both of which work better. ‘Whether water is drinkable depends on what it contains and what the fiers remove. Eg. ifit starts clean, any filter that does not contaminaie water wil produce drinkable wales. This Is a complex question that involves looking at a range of contaminarts. Usually, fitters will have more than one mecharism to remove contaminants. -What if the tees someone chooses to filter water from are sick? Would the disease spread to the water? Would the ree ‘even be able to filter the water? If the xylem is damaged, it may not fiter. Tree disease is usually dstinct from human disease, but it would be best to avoid trees that are obviously diseased. Also some trees may cause allergies or may be poisonous, so one needs to avoid those. -Has any other follow up research been done on this yet? If so, what was it? ‘Yes, were working on understanding the mary aspects cf xylem filters towards building working devices. One of my ‘students wil publish a masters thesis socn (should be available through MIT's d-space in a 2-3 months), -How come this method of water filtration is not more common, especially when it utilizes such a cheap and abundant resource (trees) that are available no matter where you are in the world? People have used diferent natural materials for filtration, but not sure why xylem has not been used. Wood chips have been used, and I've heard some native americans use lily roots. Perhaps some people used it but it did not get published. ‘Or maybe it is so because other fitratian cr disinfection methods were available. -Did you or anyone else drink the water after you fitered it? If so, di it taste like normal tap water or did it have a tinge ‘of scmething else (like the tee itself}? ‘When we're experimenting, we treat it as such and dont drink the water. If the branch is flushed before using it as a filter, most of the sap gets washed out. -Do you have any suggestions or advice for anyone wanting to continue doing research in this field? I think key is to leam more about practical needs, and design filers that can meet those needs. There is plenty of space for innovation here. You can do experiments that test certain thecries or hypotheses, or, design devices to achieve some goals,