23900568

ADI

IntroductionandGuidingQuestion:
Aquifersareplaceswheregroundwaterisstorednaturallyunderground.Anaquifer,
dependingonthetypeofsedimentitismadeupof,variesonhowwellitperforms.Alotofour
freshwatercomesfromaquifersthroughwells.Anaquifershouldbepermeableandporousfor
ittoperformwell.Porosityistheamountofporespaceinbetweensedimentandpermeabilityis
howwellwatercanflowthroughsediment.Inourinvestigation,weweretryingtofindoutwhich
typeofsedimentwouldperformbestasanaquifer.Ourguidingquestionwas:Howdoesparticle
sizeandshapeaffectasedimentsabilitytoperformasanaquifer.

Method:
Wetestedforporosityandpermeability.Weusedthe3sedimentsineachtestgravel,
pebbles,andsand.Wetestedforpermeabilitybyputting150mLofthesedimentintoaPVC
pipe,andthenpoured75mLofwaterintothepipeandtimedhowlongittookforthewaterto
startdrippingthroughthefilterpaperatthebottom.Forporosityweput100mLofsedimentinto
a250mLbeaker.Westartedwith50mLofwaterinasyringeandpouredwaterintothebeaker
untilthewaterwasalsoatthe100mLline.Werecordedthetimeittookforwatertodripoutthe
bottominatable.Wedidtheexperiment3timesforeachandfoundtheaverageofthe3and
recordedtheaverageinatabletoo.Forporosity,wemadeatablewiththestartingamountof
waterinthesyringe,amountofwaterleft,andhowmuchwaterwasintheporespaces.Inorder
tofindtheamountofwaterintheporespaces,wehadtosubtracttheamountofwaterleftfrom
theoriginalforeachtypeofsediment.Afterfindingthatamount,wewantedtofindwhatpercent
ofthewaterweoriginallyhadwentintotheporespaces.Sincewestartedwith50mLofwater,
allwehadtodowasmultiplytheamountleftby2tofindthepercent.Wealsomadegraphsfor
bothtestsontheresultswefound.

TheArgument:
Ifasedimentislargeandhasanirregularshape,itwillperformbetterasanaquifer.To
startout,welookedatthesizeandshapeofeachofthesediments.Gravelwasthelargest
followedbypebbles,andthencoarsesand.Whenwetestedforporosity,wefoundthatgravel
wasthemostporous.Asyoucanseeinthetablebelow,graveltookup80%ofthewaterwhich
wasthemostamountofthethree.Aftergravelwaspebblesthencoarsesandwithpebblesat
74%andsandat34%.Weusedthebargraphbelowtohelpvisualisewhichsedimenthadthe
mostporespaces.Gravelwasalsothemostpermeable.Asyoucanseeinthetablebelow,the
watertooktheleastamountoftimetoflowthroughthegravelatanaverageof1.08seconds.
Onceagaingravelwasfollowedbypebbles,atanaverage1.27seconds,thensand,atan
averageof15.9seconds.Thebargraphbelowalsoshowsthenumbers.
Basedonourdata,gravelwouldbethebestsedimenttoperformasanaquifer.Asyou
canseeinthegraph,astheparticlesizeofthesedimentincreasesandtheshapebecomes
moreirregular,thesedimentincreasinglybecomesmoreporousandpermeable,therefore

becomingbetteratperformingasanaquifer.Forexample,gravelwasthelargestsedimentand
itwasthemostporousat80%ofwaterintheporespaceswhilesandhasasmallparticlesize
wasonlyat34%soitwouldnotperformaswellasanaquifer.Thisexperimentwasimportant
becauseintherealworld,sometimesyoumightneedtoknowifanaquiferisgoodornot.One
waytotellwouldbetoseethetypeofsedimentanaquiferismadeupof.Asituationyoumight
needtoknowifanaquiferisgoodornotisifyouarebuyingahouse.Ifahouseisbuiltoveran
aquifermadeofsand,thenyoumightrunoutofwaterbecausesandisabadsedimentforan
aquiferbecauseitisnotporousorpermeable,asyoucanseeinourtable.Outofallthewater
intheworld,lessthan1%ofitisdrinkableandmostofthatwaterisgroundwaterinaquifers.
Accesstocleandrinkingwaterdetermineswhetherornotapersonwillsurvivepastchildhood.
Asworldpopulationsincreasecleandrinkingwaterwillbecomeevenmorescarce.Withmostof
thiscleandrinkingwatertrappeddeepintheearthunderstandinghowtoaccessitandits
qualityaredirectlyrelatedporosityandpermeabilityoftheaquifersinwhichitstored.