Definition of Activities
- How would each of the group 4 experimental science subjects help in this process?
Chemistry: Responsible in regards to our observation of the nitrogen cycle (levels of nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia) over the course of a 18-day period. Chemistry is also responsible for investigating the chemistry and behaviour of water in the tank system (chemical/physical properties and chemical/physical changes).
Physics: Responsible for conducting the lab for testing the mechanics of the siphon by comparing pipe diameter to flow rate of the siphon in order to determine the optimum diameter of the pump in the system.
Physics is also used for the second part of the lab involving the submersible pump (movement/behaviour of water: the relationship between volume, pressure, temperature, and other forces present). This pump increases/boosts the water pressure to more than 1 atmospheric pressure, so that there is a bigger pressure imbalance available and therefore the possibility of supporting a taller column of water.
Biology: Responsible for aiding the process in regards to the behaviour of the plants and plant growth in the system over the course of a 16-day period and the bacteria and nutrients being consumed or released by the plants.
- Which students will be responsible for which segments of the project?
Biology: Aline Le and Baljot Kalsi
Chemistry: Janani Nirthanarajah and Kabeer Karzai
Physics: Cherno Okafor (myself) and Asim Datye
ACTION
In this section explain the details of your action including: Subject Specific Research, Include Data Collection methods and results, and Processed Data
Subject Specific Research:
How a submersible pump works:
The Parts:
A submersible pump contains a sealed, watertight electric engine with a crankshaft leading through at least one mechanical seal to an impeller enclosed in a housing called a volute. Usually water enters the bottom of the pump and discharges from the top. Other components of a submersible water pump are the cable, which is connected to the motor, and a pipe that transports the water to the surface of the well.
Operation:
- The motor turns the crankshaft, which spins the impeller, which spins the water around, creating a partial vacuum through centrifugal force. The volute directs the water outflow and increases its pressure. Air pressure forces move water into the pump to fill the vacuum and the process repeats, sending a steady supply of liquid to the surface.
While it’s easy to push on water, it’s hard to pull on water. For example, when you drink soda through a straw, you may feel like you are pulling on the water, but you actually aren’t. What you are actually doing is removing some air from the space inside the straw and above the water, so that the air pressure in that space drops below atmospheric pressure. The water column near the bottom of the straw then experiences a pressure imbalance: the usual atmospheric pressure below it and less-than-atmospheric pressure above it. That imbalance then provides a modest upward force on the water column and pushes it up into your mouth from high pressured area to low pressured area.
However this is different for a much longer straw as you will need to suck harder. That’s because as the column of water gets taller, it gets heavier. It needs a more severe pressure imbalance to push it upward and support it. You’ll need to suck every bit of air out from inside the straw because the pressure imbalance needed to support a tall column of water is approximately one atmosphere of pressure.
To get the water to rise higher in the straw, you’ll need to install a submersible pump at the bottom. This pump increases the water pressure to more than 1 atmospheric pressure, so that there is a bigger pressure imbalance available and therefore the possibility of supporting a taller column of water.
As a result, the submersible pump can boost the water pressure well above atmospheric pressure and thereby push the water to the surface despite the great height and weight of the water column. Multiple stage submersible pumps are arranged in series so that the discharge from the first stage becomes the intake for the next stage with each successive stage adding its pressure to the previous one. Finally, this formulates a complete circulation of the system.
Advantages
- Above ground water pumps have a higher rate of mechanical problems because they have to pull water up out of the well, whereas a submersible pump has fewer mechanical problems, and can last up to 25 years before needing to be replaced. An above ground water pump can suffer from a problem called cavitation, which is a common mechanical problem caused by the high elevation of the water pump compared to the surface of the water. Submersible water pumps do not get damaged due to cavitation because they are usually deep beneath the surface of the water
Bringing Water to the Surface
- When the pressure switch comes on, an electrical current is sent down an electrical wire to the submersible water pump. Impellers contained within the body of the pump start turning. The rotation of the impellers sucks water into the body of the pump. The impellers then push the water out of the pump and up through the pipe to the water tank. When the pressure switch cuts off, the current stops operating the submersible water pump, the impellers stop turning, and the water is no longer pushed to the surface by the pump.
Retrieved from:
4. Evaluation
Describe from your perspective how you think the poster fair went
I think the poster fair went really well. The poster was all finished, well organized, creative, and well presented as everyone presented their parts efficiently and the audience was really engaged into our presentation. We presented each topic, and then illustrated the topic with our system. Another reason why I think we did well is because we noticed a lot of people coming over to look at our Aquaponics system which was pretty hard to build and they really thought it was excellent and well built. Ms. Lorenowicz and Ms. Ransom also loved our system and presentation as well. Finally, we had all our props prepared and nothing in our system broke down or stopped functioning.
5. Group Assessment – Peer Assessment Form
- The First Stage is to sit down as a group and to agree on everything that was:
- completed
- who completed this work
- how much effort was put into this work
Aline Le:
- Contributed to the project by observing the behaviour of the plants and plant growth in the system over the course of a 16-day period and the bacteria and nutrients being consumed or released by the plants
- Helped with the poster ideas and pasting
Asim Datye:
- Contributed to the project by researching the mechanics of the siphon and conducting the siphon lab
- Helped with the poster ideas and pasting
Baljot Kalsi:
- Contributed to the project by observing the behaviour of the plants and plant growth in the system over the course of a 16-day period and the bacteria and nutrients being consumed or released by the plants
- Helped with the poster ideas and pasting
Cherno Okafor:
- Contributed to the project by researching the physics component of the submersible pump and extracting an online submersible pump lab
- Helped with the poster ideas and pasting
Janani Nirthanarajah:
- Contributed to the project by researching and observing the nitrogen cycle (levels of nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia) over the course of a 18-day period and also the chemistry of water
- Helped with the poster ideas and pasting
Kabeer Karzai:
- Contributed to the project by researching and observing the nitrogen cycle (levels of nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia) over the course of a 18-day period and also the chemistry of water
- Helped with the poster ideas and pasting
- Only when this has been agreed upon can we enter b) which requires everyone to spread themselves out. Give a mark out of 30 (10 for the field work, 10 for research and poster creation, and 10 for presentation) for each member of your group, including yourself.