Equipment
2 - 5 gallon buckets
18 liters of water
1 - 1 L beaker
Graduated cylinders of various sizes (10 mL, 50 mL, 100 mL, 250 mL, 500
mL, 1000 mL)
1 - Transfer pipette (1.0 mL with 0.1 mL graduations)
Calculators or computer with Excel or other spreadsheet software
Procedure
1. NA
2. Look at all of the different sources of water shown on Table 1 below. Place a
checkmark in the last column next to what you think are the three most
common sources of human drinking water.
3. Calculate Percentages and Proportions - These calculations can be done
using a calculator and the chart on the next page or using the Excel
spreadsheet 2.2.1.A Global Water Distribution Excel.xlsx.
A. Using the data for each type and amount of water on Earth,
calculate the total water percentage of each type of water source
and record your calculations in Table 1.
B. Calculate the percentage of each freshwater (non-saline) source
compared to the total fresh water and record your calculations.
C. For the scaled-down water model in which 18.00 liters (L) of water
represents all of Earths water, calculate the proportional volume in
milliliters (mL) for each type of water. Record these values in Table
1. Check to make sure that the sum of all these proportional
calculations equals 18.00 L.
D. Total the amount of water available for human consumption in the
18 L scale model and record this figure in your engineering
notebook.
4. Select Measuring Equipment
A. Research the internet on how to read liquid volumes using
laboratory equipment.
B. Look at the volumes of water to be measured in 18 L scale model
and determine which type of laboratory measuring tool, from the list
of equipment available, should be used to most accurately and
precisely measure that volume. Record your choice and reasoning
in Table 1.
5. NA
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthhowmuch.html
7. Use your Excel Spreadsheet data to create a chart to demonstrate the distribution of the Earths water. Upload your
spreadsheet and answers to the following questions to your portfolio.
Conclusion
1 Explain why there might be differences between the calculated volume and the actual measured volume. What are
the potential sources of error in this activity? What could be done to minimize errors?
There might be differences between the calculated volume and the actual measured volume because the calculated
volume was an estimate while the actual measured volume is precise. The potential sources of error in this activity
would be the measurement size of the cylinders. To minimize this error, using tools that are more precise could help.
2 Explain how you chose the correct volumetric measuring instrument, such as a beaker, a graduated cylinder, a
pipette, or a micropipette.
We chose the correct volumetric measuring instrument by the amount that was needed to be measured.
8. How did your choice of different volumetric measuring instruments potentially affect the accuracy and/or precision?
Our choice of different volumetric measuring instruments potentially affected the accuracy of our measurement by
each instrument having different views of measurement.
9. Considering the percentage of usable fresh water, what should we be concerned about when we use water?
We should be concerned about how we preserve the fresh water.
10. Describe at least three other factors that might make availability of fresh water for human consumption a challenge
in different parts of the world.
The three factors that might make availability of fresh water for human consumption a challenge in different parts of
world would be geographical location, population instability, and pollution.