Kelsey
I did my chemistry project on hydration and its importance for living organisms. Many people do not understand the necessity of water in our diets. About 70% of the human body is water. In fact, life on earth is believed to have originated in water. For active people water is a basic, yet often forgotten staple of life. A person can survive only a few days without water, some people say no more than 3. However, a person can live for weeks without food. The human needs two liters of water a day in our climate. Appropriate hydration for athletes of all kinds is especially important. Water lost from sweat and exercise needs to be replaced as soon as possible because of its necessity to the human body.
Through this project I learned a lot about water and I realized how many people do not get adequate hydration. The effects of water loss on the body vary. Dehydration can cause minor symptoms ,such as thirst, fatigue , and loss of appetite, as well as more serious effects, such as spastic muscles,delirium, and swollen circulatory insufficiency.
To better understand the principles of water and its role in living organisms I observed a set of various fruits and vegetables as they dehydrated. I massed five grapes, a peeled apple, a peeled zucchini, and a tomato. After their initial massing, I placed them in a container on my side porch. I massed them three more times, and calculated the percent of weight lost each time. This weight that was lost by the fruits and vegetables was solely water weight. By the end of the experiment the peeled zucchini and the peeled apple had lost the most weight, close to 66%. This is what I would have expected, because I had taken the protective covers off of these two.
Through further research on the properties of water I came across the fact that almost 75% of the earth is water. However, 97% of this water is saltwater. It seems that the earth would have a close to limitless supply of drinkable water. However, saltwater can not be drank because it is isotonic. If humans were to drink saltwater it would actually end up dehydrating cells because of its isotonic properties. This interested me and I decided to research the various methods by which it is possible to turn salt water into drinkable water. There are many processes available to do this. They include a distillation process, a simple salt water popsicle, an electronic process, a natural process using bacteria and algae, and an easy do-it-at-home experiment. I tried the experiment at my own house. This was a simple and efficient way to turn salty water into drinkable water. I obtained a clean wide mouth gallon jar with a lid. I filled a small glass with a mixture of a few tablespoons of salt and water. I then placed the lid of the gallon jar upside down in full sunlight, and put the small glass, with the salt water in it, in the center of this lid. I placed the jar carefully on the lid. After a little over 45 minutes drops of water were appearing on the top of the gallon jar, and going to the bottom of the jar. After about 5 hours a very small amount of the water had evaporated from the small glass inside and I carefully took the large glass jar off of its lid. I tasted the water that had evaporated and ended up on the lid at the bottom of the jar. The water was not salty at all, and tasted quite drinkable.
Water is a vitality for all living organisms. From the minute responsibilities at the cellular level to the obvious necessities for daily life, water is one of the largest and most essential of our components.