IYC

Greetings from Pińczów

2012-02-29T20:12:06Z

Nine students aged 14-16 participated in the experiment in our school. We checked pH of water from the Nida river and from a little lake near the river. It was a really interesting experience, in our opinion, and we would like to make another experiment soon !

Greetings from Pińczów, Poland

to all young scientists :)

Our Stories: Shajara School / UNRWA - Lebanon

2012-01-29T16:16:39Z

Wissam Abdallah Chemistry Teacher Shajara School

It was really a great experience for me and my students. The global water experiment made my students like chemistry and enjoy experimental work. They asked me for more.

I’ll introduce the four water experiments in our chemistry curriculum and we’ll (my students and I) carry the Global water experiments year after year.

Here are some stories of my Students with the Global Water Experiments

Mostafa Ataya Grade 7B Shajara School

When I began the experiment-Solar Still Challenge- I felt myself a scientist in chemistry. I was really excited while doing it. The weather was sunny and I put my experiment apparatus on a high place. The aim of the experiment was desalinatin of sea water-to remove salt from sea water. During the experiment, water evaporated and changed into water vapor. When the water vapor touched the cling film, it changed back into water and collected in the cup.
We gave the desalinated water to our chemistry teacher who added to it, Chlorine, with a limited amount, not to cause cancer for people later.
Chlorine is added to kill bacteria and make water safe for drinking.

Mahdi Sweid Grade 7B Shajara School

The aim of the experiment was to desalinate sea water. When our chemistry teacher discussed the experiment, I get worried and that the experiment is difficult. But When I carried out the experiment, I was very happy and wished to repeat it many times. I told my teacher, that I wish to carry out other chemistry experiments.

Ibrahim Sharif, Abd Karim Issa, Mustafa Zaidani, Yaacoub Shaker
Grade 7A Shajara School

On Wednesday 2-12-2011 , We performed a chemical experiment “ Water Purification”. It consists of many steps. We deeply hoped that the teacher repeat it again. We were pleased to hear that there was a chemical experiment and our teacher Wissam Abdallah will ask us to perform it as home activity. When we finished, we presented our experiment happily and we were proud because we carried it successfully. This is due to Teacher Wissam Abdallah Efforts.

Jihad Khalil, Saleh Al Nour Grade 7A Shajara School

On Sunday 4/12/2011, we performed a chemical experiment “ Water Treatment”. First we cut the plastic bottle and filled it with sand and stones to construct a filter. Then we washed it with clean water. After that we pour river water into the filter to treat it. When we finished, we noticed that river water seemed to be clean. We were pleased and hoped to perform

O. P. JINDAL SCHOOL, RAIGARH, C.G., INDIA

2012-01-26T12:03:44Z

It was a wonderful experience getting these activities done by students. Students enjoyed testing their scientific skills while working in groups. As a teacher it gave an immense satisfaction to see the team spirit in students. I never thought it would be such great fun experimenting . The most beautiful thing in this activity was that it could be done using very simple equipments. It was not a costly affair. We the teachers(Anita Lakra, Rubina Sarkar, Chandra Pareek and Jyoti Sehgal] of O. P. Jindal School, Raigarh liked this idea of Global Experimentation. Students came out with different learning outcomes, shared their experience and knowledge with other students . students are interested to further do other projects linked to this experiment.As a teacher this project gave us the guideline to make the subject more interesting .students have shown their active participation to appear in global face , the platform which is given by iyc2011.We appreciate the project .

Written by the associated teachers of O.P Jindal School]

La salinitat de l'aigua

2012-01-23T15:33:07Z

En les etiquetes d'aigua mineral, en la composició química, hi ha sempre una dada que és el residu sec. De fet, és això el que hem fet els de 3r d'eso de salesians de Mataró. El residu sec, però no de l'aigua mineral sinó de la platja de Mataró.

Ho vam fer a classe, amb aigua que havíem recollit de la platja el dia anterior. És espectacular veure que tenim una solució on no s'observa cap component a banda de l'aigua i de cop i volta, precipita gran quantitat de sal, en concret, al voltant de 6%.

Ha estat una experiència interessant!

Gymnazium Mateja Hrebendu Hnusta Slovakia

2011-12-21T07:30:53Z

Hello

We are students ( 18 years old ) of Gymnazuim Mateja Hrebendu in Hnusta . We got experiences from this activity . These experiments and equipment were simple and we really liked it . We used water from the river Rimava in our city Hnusta . We are glad that we could join this project and we wish you marry Christmas and happy New Year :-). Syma , Lenka , Lašky , Aďa , Katka , Simon , Rasťo, Radka , Jano and Naďa .

INSTITUTO POLITECNICO NACIONAL ESIQIE

2011-12-19T04:48:10Z

Dentro de nuestro programa de prácticas de laboratorio de Química General llevamos una que tiene como título "Química y medio Ambiente" donde el objetivo general es: Identificar el compromiso profesional y la importancia social de proteger el medio ambiente mediante la aportación del estudiante de Ingeniería Química, en la prevención de la contaminación del aire, AGUA y suelo, debido a esto, para los estudiantes el experimento global de la determinacion del pH del planeta fué una experiencia excelente, para darse cuenta de la importancia que tiene este recurso natural (AGUA).

Esta experiencia fue un trabajo conjunto entre alumnos y profesora, teniendo como producto la determinación del pH del agua de diferentes espacios del lago de Xochimilco, aparte de llevar a cabo una buena convivencia.

Por mi parte agradezco a todas las personas que hicieron posible estos eventos del año Internacional de la Química.

Profesora Delfina Mercado

High school Mate Blažine Labin, Croatia in IYC2011

2011-12-15T15:24:32Z

Students from High school Mate Blažine Labin, Croatia participated in a global experiment in two ways:
1. 36 students performing tests and sending results on http://water.chemistry2011.org/web/iyc and http://www.hkd.hr/IYC2011
2. 27 students study air pollution in the area of Labin

At professional conferences for teachers of chemistry in Istria, Croatia, I presented activities in GLOBAL EXPERIMENT with a goal to include a larger number of teachers and students in the IYC2011 project.

More results can be found at:

http://www.ssmb.hr/296/globalni-eksperiment-za-medunarodnu-godinu-kemije

http://www.hkd.hr/IYC2011/#rezultati

Mira Hrvatin, chemistry teacher from Croatia

El Experimento Global en el Liceo Víctor Mercante de la Universidad Nacional de la Plata

2011-12-16T01:22:54Z

Fue una excelente experiencia, los alumnos de la materia : Introducción a las Ciencias Naturales del cuarto Año del Liceo Víctor Mercante, colegio de pregrado de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata , disfrutaron y aprendieron con las actividades de " FUERA LA SUCIEDAD FUERA LOS GÉRMENES "

Organizaron el material, recolectaron la muestra , desarrollaron los pasos previstos , observaron los procesos , registraron las observaciones, sacaron conclusiones y vincularon esta experiencia con enfermedades de origen hídrico y la importancia del agua potable como medida de prevención.

Todo queda resgistrado en el video que se adjunta

Thank you !!!

2011-11-29T11:15:13Z

We, The Center for Ecological-Noosphere Studies of National Academy of Sciences of Republic of Armenia, have pledged to conduct as many projects as possible. One of them is to participate in the International Year of Chemistry 2011.

And we were ready to be involved ourselves in many projects that emphasize the importance of Chemistry and ecological education. And here we are with our project results. The project was coordinated by me Lilit Grigoryan.

Introduction:

pH is a unit of measure which describes the degree of acidity or alkalinity of a solution. It is measured on a scale of 0 to 14. The term pH is derived from "p", the mathematical symbol of the negative logarithm, and "H", the chemical symbol of Hydrogen. The formal definition of pH is the negative logarithm of the Hydrogen ion activity. pH is an important indicator of water quality.

Purpose:

To importance the chemistry for students, especially in giving priority to water. To determine the pH level of water in various type of water.

Discussion:

Students from five schools from different regions of Armenia participated in the Global Experiment which is an International one.

More than 400 students (V, VI, VII & VIII classes, 10-14 age) along with 20 teachers were involved in this project and actively participated in the pH of the Planet activity. Students were very animated for the experiment.

Preparing:

· Students were involved in all stages of experiment. They collected all information on water, water quality parameters themselfs, made a presentation. They sampled river and tap water, after which measured and assessed the level of pH by experiment.

· To find the pH color, students were using Bromothymol Blue and m-Cresol Purple and a color chart provided by the IYC 2011 Global Experiment.

Results:

pH of the Planet Activity - Water-Armenia.

Results

location	Type of Water Source	Temperature (⁰C)	pH value
Yerevan c.	Tap	12,9	7,7
Griboedov v.	Channel	16	7,2
Masis v.	Azat River	15	7,4
Tavush v.	Tap	10	7,6
Qajaran c.	Voghji River	17	7,8

Conclusion:

We are very glad that we could participate on this Global Experiment. It was very interesting. Students voluntarily came and clarified their doubts regarding pH. We conducted three experiments: pH of the Planet, No Dirt, No Germs. The bromothymol blue and m-Cresol purple were new indicators for our students; they have not worked with it yet. They have learned to determinate pH value to decimals by using color scale.

uploading the results ????

2011-11-11T16:09:17Z

Hi there,

I'm a teacher in Spain, already registered in the global water experiments, but I'm unable to upload the result s that my students got in the 4 experiments. Could someone help me?, Because I'm not able to download the form.

The name os my school is INS Joan Bosca.

Thank you

Bullis Participates in the IYC Experiments - G Block 10th Gr. Chemistry

2011-11-15T16:29:18Z

The goal of the IYC experiments was to eliminate germs in drinking water and provide awareness of cleaner drinking water around the world. Our class used these experiments to learn about clarification of water and also raise awareness.

For the first experiment, our class had accurate results, and the pH of all the different water we tested was approximately 7.6 for marine water and 7.4 for fresh water. A few groups added too many drops of bromo blue, giving them inaccurate data. We learned you have to be precise when conducting these experiments to get good results. Our percent deviation was low, so the data was good because we had 2.1% and that is well below 5%.

For our second experiment, the average of our classes absolute salinity is 25.80. A problem we ran into was that we dried it in humid air, and some also started to boil over and lose salt because the heat on the hot plate was to high.

For Lab 3 Water: No Dirt, No Germs, we used the five steps of clarification to reach the ultimate goal of purification. The two procedures we used were water clarification and water disinfection. For Water Clarification we first observed the initial appearance, which was foggy and smelled bad. After the first step of clarification (aeration), it looked yellowish and smelled bad. We then added alum after 15 minutes and the water started to smell cleaner and the sediment mostly disappeared. After filtration the water smelled clean and the sediment was mostly gone. Throughout this lab we collaborated with different sections of the chemistry classes. After we did the procedure of water disinfection, we learned that recently cleared water is not safe to drink because it still contains bacteria, but after titrating with bleach it’s safe because bleach kills the bacteria.

In Lab 4: Solar Still Challenge, we taught eighth graders the procedures of this lab. We also made a video teaching them the steps, so they can construct the experiment visually.

In conclusion to our lab, we are happy we could participate in this global project and the future of clean water!!

Bullis Participates in the IYC - Salty Waters Lab - A Block Class

2011-11-15T16:29:43Z

We are from the Bullis School located in Potomac, MD. In our A- block class of 14 students we did an IYC lab of how to separate salt from ocean water. Throughout our trials we were successful because we obtained the salt by itself, and we were able to see the cube-shaped crystals in the light at the end of the lab. We calculated 2.53 percent salinity compared to the four classes, which was 25.80% salinity. This value reflects good data since the percent deviation was quite small. Our class average was lower compared to the world average which was 3.5%. The reason for this was because of the excessive rain and freshwater adding with the salty water from the Chesapeake Bay

Gymnasium L.Pika, Plzeň, Czech Republic

2011-10-08T21:42:27Z

Hello!

We are very glad that we could participate on this Global Experiment. I am a teacher of chemistry and for me and my students ( 17 years old - 7th class of eight year´s study plan)) it was very interesting. We conducted three experiments: pH of the Planet, No Dirt, No Germs, Solar still Challenge ( there is no see in Czech Republic). It was great to see, how our results were entered to the global maps. Students were very interested in comparing their results with the other´s via internet - maps. They liked to be involved in international student´s work. They took samples from the local river Berounka and near lake Bolevák. They compared pH value with pH of tap, destil and fish tank watter. It was really iformative for them. They determinated: pH of the river - 7,4, of the pond 7,5, tap - 7.5, destil - 7, fish tank - 7,2. The bromthymol blue and fenol purple ( we had no m-cresol purple) were new indicators for my students, they have not worked with them yet. They have learned to determinate pH value to decimals by using colour scale.

Best regards Jitka Voráčová, Gymnasium L. Pika, Plzeň, Czech Republic

pH of the Planet :Save Water to Save the Planet's Future.

2011-09-27T05:49:08Z

Background

I, Mr. D. Aravindaraja, teacher in Artchouna Soupraya Naikar, Government Middle School, Mudaliarpet, Puducherry, have pledged to conduct as many projects as possible to celebrate the International Year of Chemistry, 2011, along with my school students as well as the other teachers of my school.

And we started involving ourselves in many projects that emphasize the importance of Chemistry.In this long run, the Global Experiment Project announced by the IYC 2011 enthusiazed us and here we are with our project.

Introduction:

Water quality parameter pH is an important indicator of ecosystem's health and can provide a measure of damage to waterways attributed to human activity. Significant deviation of this parameter from ‘natural’ levels can result in ecosystem degradation and may impact environmental qualities and beneficial uses.

Purpose:

To determine the pH level of water in various areas of Puducherry.

Discussion

Students from our school are the first to particpate in the Global Experiment which is an International one. Students around our school were most eager to explore about the Planet's elixir of life.

More than 400 students actively particpated in the pH of the Planet activitiy along with 30 teachers. Classes V, VI, VII & VIII aged 10-14 were involved in the project.

Equiping and Preparing the Students

A lecture was delivered by me (Mr. Aravindaraja.D), during the school assembly and a Powerpoint Presentation was prepared and shown to the students on the basics of pH and the project-related matters. I thought of a plan in collecting water samples by the students from various areas of Puducherry.

https://picasaweb.google.com/109617529417003573152/GlobalWaterExperimentPhOfThePlanetActivity

To find the pH colour, a colour chart provided by the IYC 2011 Global Experiment was printed out and a demo was shown on "How to interpret the pH of water in relation to the respective colour" using Bromothymol Blue and m-Cresol Purple.

Methodology

Refer to our attachment regarding the method handled by us , which was done with the help of the Format Sheet provided by the Global Experiment.

Results

pH of the Planet Activity - Various areas of Puducherry, India.

Results

Locale & Water Source	pH value
Mudaliarpet Tap Water	7.4
Mudaliarpet Well	7.2
Kombakkam Tap Water	7.2
Velrampet Lake Water	7.4
Velrampet Tap Water	7.4
Nellithope Tap Water	7.4
Nainarmandapam Tap Water	7.2
Murungapakkam Tap Water	7.4
Oupalam Tap Water	7.4
Thengaithittu Tap Water	7.0
Bahour Tap Water	6.4
Thavalakuppam Tap Water	6.6
Thengaithittu Tap Water	7.4
Vanrapet Tap Water	7.2
Murungapakkam Tap Water	7.4
Vannangulam Tap Water	7.4
Rodiarpet Tap Water	7.4
Kanniakoil Tap Water	7.2
Thavalakuppam Pond Water	7.2
Rain Water	6.2
Udayar Thoppu Tap Water	7.4
Madagadipet P.S.palayam Tap Water	7.4
Vannangulam Tap water	7.4
Ouppalam Tap water	7.4
Nainar mandapam Tap Water	7.0
Poorananguppam Tap Water	7.4
Kuruvinatham Tap Water	7.4
Navarkulam Tap water	7.4
Moorthikuppam Tap water	7.2
Ariankuppam Underground water	7.4
Ariyankuppam Tap water	7.2
Old Bus stand Tap Water	7.4
Govindasalai Tap Water	7.2
Villianur Tap Water	7.4
Thengaithittu Tap Water	7.4
Veerampattinam Tap Water	7.0
Sea Water Bay of Bengal	7.4
Pond Water Pond Water	7.4
Thippurayapet Tap Water	7.2
Reddichavady Tap Water	7.2
Reddichavady Underground Water	7.4

Conclusion

First of all I am very proud to participate in this world event.The Students were excited while performing this global experiment.Students voluntarily came and clarified their doubts regarding pH.The ph Range of various areas of our puducherry state starts from 6 to 8.

Marymede presents their Global Experiment!

2011-09-21T02:57:39Z

Marymede Catholic College is a P-12 school located in South Morang Victoria, Australia. We, the year 11 Chemistry class, have participated in the Global Experiment in 2011 as it coincides with the water unit we study in VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education).

Thank you for reading our report.

The year 11 Chemistry Class.

pH of the Planet

By: Ashley, Kaavya, Aarjoo, Alexandra

Aim: To investigate and observe the pH values of a variety of water samples from different locations.

Introduction: The pH scale is used to measure the acidity of solutions. The pH of most common solutions is between 0-14. Acids commonly have relatively low pH values ranging from 0-6. By comparison bases generally have a high pH values ranging from 8-14 where 7 is neutral. The most common acid and base reactions occurs in water because water is a good solvent. Acids and base reactions are called neutralisation reactions and the measure of strengths of acids and bases depend on the extent to which they may ionise in water.

Junior school:

Location	pH
Inside tap-house 2	6
Outside taps-outside house 2	7
Girls toilets –outside house 2	6

Gym:

Location	pH
Outside puddles around gym	8
Inside tap of gym	7
Girls toilets in gym	8

Discussion: The results from Marymede’s grounds show that the samples taken from various locations such as the college Sports and Fitness centre located south west to the science department and the junior grounds located south east of the Marymede Science Department, all showed that they all had an approximately pH value that was close to neutral. The pH values that were determined ranged from 6-8. This demonstrates the samples that were tested gave a neutral pallet and hence is extremely suitable for human consumption. The junior school taps were most neutral than that of the gym ranging from 6-7. On the other hand the water samples collected from there gym ranged from 7-8 in pH.

Conclusion: Overall it can be concluded that Marymede’s water is suitable for human consumption as the results indicated that the water was mostly neutral rather than acidic or basic.

Salty Waters

By: Joel, Amrit, Jinwar and Balraj

AIM: This activity makes use of water’s ability to dissolve substances to measure the amount of salt in some natural waters. Chemists measure the amounts of many of the substances that are present in water samples and we use the information to both understand how the world works and to keep us safe and healthy.

METHOD: Refer to Sheet (Investigating Salty Waters)

RESULTS:

	Saltwater sample	Other Sample (Optional)
Mass of dish m(d) (g)	117	1165
Volume of Saltwater V(sw) (mL)	99	98
Mass of dish and Water sample m(d+sw) (g)	217	214
*Drying to constant weight*
Mass of dish and salts - 1st (g)	214	214
Mass of dish and salts - 2nd (g)	204	201
Mass of dish and salts - 3rd (g)	201	198
Final mass of dish + salts (g)	201	198
*Calculations*
Mass of Salt (g)	84	83
Mass of Saltwater	100	99
Absolute salinity (g)	840	838.38
Density (g)	1.01	1.01
*Optional - Conductivity Test*
Salinity from conductivity (psu)	N/A	N/A

DISCUSSION:

1) Examine the dish containing the salt and see if you can see signs of crystals. Crystals glint in the light because they have flat faces that reflect light when they are big enough. You can often see the crystals better with a hand lens of simple microscope. Describe the appearance of the salt in your dish.

The salt in the dish was small, crystal like and looked like normal table salt pieces.

2) The rest of the class did not undertake the experiment.

3) The rest of the class did not undertake this experiment.

4) When you swim in salt water how can you tell that it is denser than pure water which is slightly less than 1 g/mL at 20 Degrees Celsius.

As there is more salt in water, it causes more resistance for the person to swim in. If the water contains a very large amount of salt such as in Dead Sea, it even enables a person to float in water.

CONCLUSION: This experiment made us think about the properties of water in a more practical way, and explore some properties of water i.e. ability to dissolve, density etc. It also helped us discover how water reacts with some salts. Improvements we could have made is to have more people participate so that we could compare and achieve more accurate results.

Water: No dirt, No germs.

By: Bethany, Thakshini, Hannah and Marola.

Our experiment involved purifying and disinfecting water and testing this water against samples collected from various hot and tap water points throughout Marymede Catholic College, South Morang, Victoria, Australia. Also collected, were various samples of pond water located at the wetlands at the back of the school to purify and disinfect.

The sample of dirty pond water was collected on the 19^th August 2011 at a lukewarm temperature located at the back of the school, in the pond at the wetlands. Before the start of the water purifying treatment, the sample of pond water was putrid in smell. The sample was yellowed in water colour, and thick with various plants which seemed to grow in the water (algae). As we conducted the process of aeration, this caused bubbles existing in the water sample to disappear completely, although the water was still discoloured and contained the pond weed and algae. Alum was added (1 tsp.) for the 100mL of water collected. The water didn’t change appearance, except after 10 minutes of the Alum being added, the water slightly became clear. This prepared the water to be ready for the process of filtration.

Filtration occurred when the pond water from the wetlands was left to filter through a white cylinder funnel, packed with gravel, coarse and fine sand. The pond water was left to filter over two days, leaving 100 mL of pure water left into a beaker. The process of water disinfection occurred however, it could be changed. The different types of chlorine strips used as the levels of chlorine recorded were different to that of what we needed, however the recorded free available chorine per million parts was calculated to be at 10ppm.

The treatment made the water clearer and fresher smelling compared to the metallic smell and appearance of the other days. The clarified water would be safe to drink had the proper chlorine levels been recorded early enough. But after disinfection, it wasn’t recommended to drink as high levels of bleach was added (4-5 drops through a pipette) through the process of clarification.

The experiment concluded with 100 mL of perfectly clean water, which was once dirty pond water from the wetlands.

Solar Still Challenge

Team Members: Peter, Anthony Matthew and Jagpreet.

Aim: To build a solar still and find out how it can purify water. When successfully completed, use your knowledge to build a more efficient solar still.

Method:

First to start the Solar Still Challenge we needed to find the equipment which was given on the sheet. The equipment that was needed was a large metal or plastic bowl but due to lack of supply we used a glass bowl, a beaker as a substitute for a shallow glass, a measuring jug, cling wrap, a small stone, food dye and salt. After assembling all the equipment, we started to put together the experiment. First we added 1cm of hot water to the glass bowl which we measured with a ruler, then added a few drops of red food dye and also a table spoon of salt. Due to cloud cover we could not successfully use the suns heat to start the process of purifying water so our group improvised and used a heated light source. We placed the beaker into the middle of the glass bowl then covered the bowl loosely with cling wrap sealing the bowl. After sealing the bowl with cling wrap we put the rock (pebble) into the middle of the cling wrap so it was positioned over the beaker underneath. We than left the experiment for a day to increase our results then checked the beaker for any purified water. After a day we measured the water and observed the colour and also tested it for salt. For part B THE DESIGN CHALLENGE we managed to find an aluminium bowl which we thought would conduct heat a lot better. We then introduced a hot plate to increase temperature throughout the bowl to increase evaporation of the water inside. We also removed the cling wrap and installed foil in its place to which we thought would be a better heat conductor.

Results:

The results for experiment Part A THE CHALLENGE was that pure water had formed in the beaker which was salt free and also clear in colour. The volume of purified water that was collected was 12.75% of the total amount which was 153 ml of water. This equalled 19.635ml of purified water in the beaker.

In Part B THE DESIGN CHALLENGE the same mass of water was in the bowl with the same size beaker to try and give us the most accurate results. We found that the second experiment had a greater amount of purified water in the beaker which was 22.32% of the volume of the starting mass volume of the water which was 153ml (34.15ml). The still works because of the angle of the rock as its sags the cling wrap to a point which water can simply drop off into the beaker after it starts to evaporate. The still that we produced was similar in every way but the materials we used were different. The time it took for the water to evaporate was decreased astonishingly when we used the metal bowl. This is because aluminium conducts heat and we also had the hotplate underneath which sped the process up heaps.

Discussion: The results show that water can be purified in this manner and is simple and easy to accomplish at home. The results that were produced were consistent with our expectations as we read through the book let to learn more about evaporation and the water cycle. Some sources of error which may occur is the lack of sunlight or not getting enough heat to start the evaporation process. There also may be an error in setting up the experiment with lack of materials. This experiment can improve by possible changing the light and heat from the sun to help the evaporation process and instead use a heated lamp or other sources of heat to help produce better and quicker results.

Conclusion: We found water can be purified through this experiment. The water that was purified was greater and greater every time we adjusted the experiment to produce better and more accurate results. For Part A, 12.7551% was captured into the beaker and 22.317% was captured by Part B.

References: International Year of Chemistry 2011 hand book.

Water Scarcity.......Water quality and experiments !!

2011-08-06T11:46:24Z

We live in Mahavir Enclave a small village in New Delhi,the capital of India. In our village water is scarce and even when its there its quality is not worth drinking.This summer was the worst......

It had been a week with no supply of water and thats when we realized how important water is for us.We had no water to drink,we had no utensils to cook food in cause all the utensils were dirty and we had no way of cleaning them,We couldn't clean our houses or wash our clothes...and then finally the day came when we heard the news that water was finally being supplied!!!

It was the that we did this experiment in our college (SRI VENKATESWARA COLLEGE,DELHI UNIVERSITY) TO DETERMINE THE TOTAL ,TEMPORARY AND PERMANENT HARDNESS OF WATER BY TITRATING IT AGAINST EDTA SOL (M/100).Prepare a standard solution of ZnSO4.7H2O

We were a group of 30 students from all across Delhi.We all got samples of water from our places and conducted this experment at our inorganic laboratory.

At an average our readings were

Total hardness = 150.15 ppm

Temporary hardness = 83.85 ppm

Perpanent = 66.3 ppm

ppm means

The results clearly show that the water we get for drinking on a daily basis by the municipal corporations are moderately hard...

on checking the ph of the water samples we got the range above 8 showing the quality of water being supplied in the capital of India!!

Water; a chemical solution, in the fair Chemistry Slovakia 2011

2011-06-22T14:59:32Z

The booth of Slovak Chemical Society in the fair Chemistry Slovakia 2011 (one of the IYC 2011 related activities in Slovakia, officially recognised by IUPAC too) held on April 12th – 14th in Bratislava was equipped also for a running the global IYC 2011 experiment.

Pupils of several schools have used this opportunity and subsequently have sent their results to the interactive global map of “Water; a chemical solution”.

Prof. J. I. Jin – Past president of IUPAC, conducted encouraging discussions with the staff and pupils around the “laboratory” of the global IYC 2011 experiment during the 1st day of the fair.

Thanks to the earlier complete translation and distribution of the leaflets and instructions, the involvement of Slovak teachers and pupils in the global experiment continues in the facilities of schools and the increased number of results from Slovakia is appearing in the interactive global map.

Lukáš Krivosudský, Slovak national contact point & coordinator of the Global experiment Milan Drabik, President of the Association of Slovak Chemical & Pharmaceutical Societies & A. M. of the division II of IUPAC.

Prof. J. I. Jin with head-teacher and students from Levice (top), laboratory of the global IYC
2011 experiment in the fair Chemistry Slovakia 2011 (bottom)

Interview of a Science teacher in Slovakia

2011-06-20T15:21:42Z

2011 is the UN Year of Chemistry.
So far, almost 200 classes have conducted the Global Experiment and submitted their results to the website.

Erika Dudasova, Science Teacher at the Gymnazium Pavla Horova in Slovakia, has participated in the UN Year of Chemistry 2011 and would like to share her experience with us.

Hello Erika,

Why have you decided to take a part in the IYC?
I liked the idea of examining various water sources from all around the world, as well as sharing and comparing the results via internet. I think that it can be very useful not only for scientists but also for students. They can be involved in something interesting and international as well.

How did you hear from it?
I received an e-mail from Commenius University in Bratislava Slovakia, where the Global chemistry experiment was presented.

Which Experiments have conducted in class? From which Water source did you take your samples?
We´ve already conducted three experiments:

pH of the Planet,
No Dirt No Germs, and
Solar Still Challenge.

We took samples from our local dam river and from some local tap.

How did your pupils react?
The majority of my students felt more and more involved.
They really appreciated the practical dimension of the project. They liked the work at laboratory with all the stuff. They were interested in making these experiments, as they haven´t done anything like this before. After each experiment, they wanted to compare their results with those from other countries.

Was the Global dimension of the Experiment a special motivation for them? and for you?
As I´ve mentioned above, they were curious about the results from other regions. A project like this one can make the teaching of chemistry more attractive for students and of course for teacher too.

Is there any advice, any comment you would like to make to help the teachers who haven't conducted the Experiment yet?
If you ´re going to do experiment N4-Solar still challenge, check the weather forecast first!
You need sun shining with high intensity to let the reaction pass.

And what if you had to resume your experience in a few words?
I am looking forward to next global project during IYC 2011!

Thank you very much Erika, for being so active in the Year of Chemistry and for all the time you dedicated to share your experience. I would like to thank as well all of your students!

I wish you all a Good Year of Chemistry!

M.B.