Experiment ~ Can You Undo Water Pollution?

In this experiment the kids learned just how hard it is to undo water pollution.

We grabbed a bucket of clean water, some household trash, vegetable oil (to stand for toxic oil spills), tongs, and a strainer.

 

The kids took turns adding trash to the water.

After our water was yucky enough

 

they tried to remove all of the pollution using tongs and a strainer.

Emily even tried to scoop up the little pieces of trash and dirt with her hands.

After 15 minutes of trying to remove all of the pollutants, we were left with a pile of trash and water that was still oily and dirty.

The conclusion ~ It is impossible to remove all of the pollutants from the water.

To go along with our experiment we read Oil Spill! by Melvin Berger

and Where Does the Garbage Go? by Paul Showers. 

Tomorrow we are going to decorate a compost container to keep in the kitchen and some new recycling bins. 

~Cindy