pictures and evaluation :)

Heyy everyone!! :)
Wow, i cant believe this is actually the last time ill be blogging to u about my srp!!! It feels like ages since it started and its been such a journey!!! Well i have finished my report!!! And i am very content with the final product!! So now i thought id take a trip back memory lane and post some of the pictures of when i first started the experiment to now, just so u can see all the progress thats been made!

The first lot of pictures are the end of wk 2 ones, the second lot of pics are from teh end of wk 1 and the last lot of pics are from the beginning!

end of wk 2 pics :)

end of week 1 pictures :)

start of experiment- equipment set up:

My self evaluation:
Ok well i felt that by doing this experiment, it was a great learning opportunity. Seriously, before i started this experiment i just thought evaporation was just when water went up into the sky and turned from a liquid into a gas!! Haha. But now i know SO MUCH more about this topic, not just an indepth knowledge about evaporation, but also other research areas of my experiment, such as learning about the two opposing scientific theories, surface tension (which i had no clue what it was before this), liquid pool covers, solid pool blankets, chemical properties of water and of chlorine. Wow thats a lot of research!!!
I felt that i really have put in a lot of hard work into the blogging. For over the past month ive been posting at least every two days, and sometimes every day!! And my blogs aren’t just short and useless, ive tried to include as much info as i could on things such as the experiment and how it is going, all the equipment, all the raw experimental data, and alot of background research!!! But ive also tried to include as many pictures, tables and graphs as possible to give u a visual idea and summary of what has been happening. Ive come a long way from at first spending an hour trying to figure out how to upload a picture on the blog site, and then i saw the little picture icon button lol. At times i got frustrated, because i posted such long blogs it took me forever to drag all the pictures down to the very end, and then itd stuff up all the wiritng and formatting, so id have to fix all that up as well! But then i realised why not just post the pictures and tables at the beginning of each post! Lol
Anyway, back to my research experiment, i really have felt that ive learnt A LOT from conducting the experiment. Even having a pool myself for years, i never really realised just how much water was lost through evaporation, that was until i saw the statistics and i was shocked!! It really taught my that investigating into which solution would prevent the most evaporation from swimming pools, would in the long run save a lot of water. And because water is such a costly and scarce commodity, especially in Australia, it is important to do all we can to save this natural resource.

xoxo Mira

more pics, graphs and research :)

BEFORE I START I AM REALLY ANNOYED THAT THE TABLES IN THE PREVIOUS BLOG DIDNT POST PROPERLY!!!!! THEY WERE FINE ON HERE!!!!!

Heyy everyone!! :)
So when i was just looking through all my srp photos, i realised that i forgot to post the ones of the litmus strips- showing the chemical characteristics (ph, alkalinity, chlorine, stabiliser content) of the different liquids in the measuring cups, for week 2. I wanted to take pictures of them to prove that these chemical characteristics don’t change as evaporation is occurring. And i was correct!! So anyway these are the pics!! From left to right, the strips are for measuring cups 1,2,3 and 4 respectively. They are below the graph

Ok so a while a go (i forgot to write it on here! Oops! ) i also decided that for the results section of my report, i should scrap the results for colour and appearance. I mean, whilst i was conducting the experiment i thought it would be interesting to see and note how this changed over the 15 day, experimental period, but as ive been doing the report ive realised that this really has nothing to do with the evaporation of liquids from the 4 glasses. Also, im only gonna talk about all the chemical characteristics briefly, just to show that they haven’t changed over the period and that they don’t affect the rate and level of evaporation.

But so far, the report is going really, really well!! Im more than half way through it, which is ahead of where i where i wanted to be at this time!!! I thought it would be good to include one of the graphs that im using in my report on here, because it is sort of like a summary graph and would be a nice finishing touch to the results ive posted on here. So yeah this is ONLY 1 graph, all the other graphs and tables you will see in my report!! So this graph pretty much just shows the volume of liquid in each of the four measuring cups over the 15, day experimental period. As you can see, as the time is increasing the water level is decreasing. So anyway, here is the graph:




here its for measuring cups 1,2,3,4 respectively

Ok well i also thought id post on here some of the info and more that i put in my introduction about plain water and chlorine water. I realised that i hadn’t actually posted much research of that on here, so here it is:

Plain, tap water:
Water is a special chemical substance consisting of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen.
The hydrogen atoms are "attached" to one side of the oxygen atom, resulting in a water molecule having a positive charge on the side where the hydrogen atoms are and a negative charge on the other side, where the oxygen atom is.
Since opposite electrical charges attract, water molecules tend to attract each other, making water kind of "sticky." The side with the hydrogen atoms (positive charge) attracts the oxygen side (negative charge) of a different water molecule.

Here are some interesting facts about water:
Water is called the "universal solvent" because it dissolves more substances than any other liquid. This means that wherever water goes, either through the ground or through our bodies, it takes along valuable chemicals, minerals, and nutrients.
Pure water has a neutral pH of 7, which is neither acidic nor basic.
· Water is unique in that it is the only natural substance that is found in all three states -- liquid, solid (ice), and gas (steam) -- at the temperatures normally found on Earth. Earth's water is constantly interacting, changing, and in movement.
· Water has a high specific heat index. This means that water can absorb a lot of heat before it begins to get hot. This is why water is valuable to industries and in your car's radiator as a coolant. The high specific heat index of water also helps regulate the rate at which air changes temperature, which is why the temperature change between seasons is gradual rather than sudden, especially near the oceans.
· Water has a very high surface tension. In other words, water is sticky and elastic, and tends to clump together in drops rather than spread out in a thin film.

Chlorine:
· Chlorine is an element used in industry and found in some household products.
· Chlorine is sometimes in the form of a poisonous gas. Chlorine gas can be pressurized and cooled to change it into a liquid so that it can be shipped and stored. When liquid chlorine is released, it quickly turns into a gas that stays close to the ground and spreads rapidly.
· Chlorine gas can be recognized by its pungent, irritating odor, which is like the odor of bleach. The strong smell may provide an adequate warning to people that they have been exposed.
· Chlorine gas appears to be yellow-green in color.
· Chlorine itself is not flammable, but it can react explosively or form explosive compounds

with other chemicals such as turpentine and ammonia.

Its really weird to know that that is the chemical in a lot of swimming pools, and in mine!!

References:
http://www.periodic.lanl.gov/elements/17.html
http://www.chemlink.com.au/caustic_oz.htm
http://www.ozh2o.com/h2chem.html

xoxo Mira

evaporation research :)

Heyy everyone!!! :)

Ok well today i thought itd be good to do some more research into evaporation- as that is mainly what my research experiment is all about!! Once of the things ms zhang said we could talk was, the impact our investigation or research would have on society. And because water is such s scarce commodity, and my research is about minimising water evaporation from swimming pools, i thought it would be good to actually get some statistics about how much water exactly is lost through evaporation from swimming pools. Now to the research!!

What is evaporation?
Evaporation is the process whereby liquid water becomes a gas and dissipates as the water temperature is increased. Eventually, a saucepan of water will ‘boil dry’ as all the liquid becomes a gas and disappears into the atmosphere.

Calculating evaporation...

Calculating evaporation rates is a very complicated process, with many variables such as water surface area, water temperature, air temperature, air pressure, air density, wind speed, and humidity among others - all affecting evaporation.

Main factors affecting evaporation, and some interesting facts (i thought were interesting)...

Factors:
1. pool surface area
2. the temperature of the water and air
3. humidity
4. wind

Facts:
1. The bigger the pool, the more surface area, therefore, a greater
evaporation volume.
2. The highest evaporation rates occur when the differences
between water and air temperatures are the greatest. This may
not be in the middle of a hot day when the pool is in use. At this
point the water and air temperatures may be quite close. Later at
night the pool water may remain warm, but the air temperature
has fallen substantially - that means a greater temperature
difference between the air and water - and greater evaporation.
3. The drier the air is, the greater the evaporation rate. In very
humid conditions less evaporation occurs.
4. The final and very significant factor for home pools is wind.
A breeze of just a gentle 11 kilometres per hour can more than
double the evaporation rate by removing the insulating layer of
warm, moist air directly above the pool surface.

How much water does your pool actually hold?

To put things into perspective, here are some of the sizes and capacities of pools that you would typically find in backyards right across Australia. Ok so i actually did do a proper table, but whenever i do tables and post them on to blogger they come out soo small and unclear!! So yeah maybe this is a better option, just simply writng it out without the boxes...

Pool Length Pool Width Average Depth Water Capacity
Pool length pool width average depth water capacity
8.0 metres x 4.0 metres x 1.3 metres = 41,600 litres
9.2 metres x 4.5 metresx 1.3 metres =53,820 litres
10.0 metres x 5.0 metres x 1.3 metres = 65,000 litres

Thats alot of water!! Think of now how big the evaporation levels would be!! :o :O :O shock face- lol.
Ok, now ill do a table for the mean daily evaporation rate. Ive only included the 5 major cities- Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and perth.and also ive only included the 6 hottest months, which is from October to march, as this is generally when swimming pools are most in use. So yeah here is the table!

Mean Daily Evaporation Rate (mm)

6 month
average
o n d j f m
Sydney 5.8 6.5 7.4 7.2 6.4 5.3 6.4 mm
Melbourne 4.6 5.7 7.4 7.5 7.3 5.8 6.4 mm
Brisbane 6.4 6.7 7.6 7.9 6.7 5.8 6.9 mm
Adelaide 5.3 7.2 8.1 8.9 8.4 6.4 7.4 mm
Perth 5.3 7.4 9.1 10.2 9.8 7.9 8.3 mm

Ok so this is the table. I know its come out a little weird but it took me ages just to align it this far!!! Btw the letters at the top stand for the month, so o is October, n is November etc.

The following table shows the average DAILY evaporation in litres for the same three pool sizes i used for the beginning table, across the five capital cities.
It should really astound you, as to just how much water is lost from swimming pool per day as a result of evaporation. Well i know it really astounded me!! And remember, these figures are in litres!!!!!!! Wow, beware, its alot!!! Ok heres the table:

Mean Daily Evaporation Volume (litres)

Pool Size Surface water
Area capacity Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth


8.0x4.0m 32.0m2 41,600l 205 205 221 237 266
9.2x4.5m 41.4m2 53, 820l 265 265 286 306 344
10.0x5.0m 50.0m2 65,000l 320 320 345 370 415

xoxo Mira

liquid and solid pool covers research :)

Heyy everyone!!!! :)

Well over the past few days ive been doing alot of background research and posting all of my research and references up onto my blog. So this week ive done some research particularly on pH levels and surface tension. Today i thought id do some research on liquid and solid pool covers. Now i know quite a while ago on my previous blogs i posted some info on these things, but they were just a description because i was just getting started into the research component of the srp. But now since the srp report is almost due, i thought it would be a good idea to do some more in depth research on these things!

Liquid pool covers:
Liquid pool covers are a generally a mixture of Isopropyl alcohol and a proprietary ingredient. The liquid is added to a pool in very small amounts (Generally around 4 ounces per 1500 square feet of pool surface per day). The liquid spreads out and creates a thin invisible barrier covering the pool only a few molecules thick. This barrier acts like a traditional solar blanket to trap in heat and prevent evaporation of your chemicals, but since it's liquid it remains working even while swimmers are present.

Liquid blankets are ideal in commercial applications where there are swimmers present much of the time or whenever a traditional blanket would be impractical.
Liquid covers have been in use for years, and maintain a proven track record in commercial use especially. Most liquid covers are filter friendly, do not affect the chemical balance [PH, chlorine, alkalinity, etc.] of the water and will not damage vinyl liners or any other pool surfaces, it is also harmless to the skin and eyes, even in infants.
Many liquid cover systems also come with an automatic injector which will continually add the proper amount of liquid cover to your pool as needed.

How much evaporation exactly do liquid pool covers prevent?
The chemical forms a barrier on the water's surface which inhibits evaporation by up to 40%. It can either be added to the pool daily by hand or by using an automatic metering system.

Other:
Ok well also as i was researching on liquid pool covers, i came across the Heatsavr liquid pool cover, and i thought it would be interesting to include some info on this particular product, because they claimed to prevent 50% of evaporation, where as every other pool cover claimed to prevent 40% of evaporation. Hmmm....interesting. well anyway, here is some info on this product:

Heatsavr is a bio-degradable liquid, which forms a transparent monomolecular layer over the surface of a swimming pool whenever it is calm. This layer significantly reduces evaporation, which not only saves on water heating but with indoor pools can reduce the cost of humidity control and air heating requirements. An automatic dosing system ensures that the correct dose of Heatsavr is added to the pool at the same time each day.
· Proven Energy savings up to 50%
· Reduces humidity on indoor pools
· Transparent – More aesthetically acceptable than a conventional cover
· More hygienic - conventional covers require stringent and regular cleaning to avoid bacterial growth
· Far more convenient, simpler and easier to use than a conventional cover
· Greater flexibility – works whenever the pool surface is reasonably calm 24 hours per day - works to greater or lesser degree dependant on pool activity
· Equally effective on deck level pools
· Automatic dosing ensures correct and reliable application
· Fully and independently tested for Safety – Non-Toxic and Biodegradable
· Undetectable by pool users – tasteless, odourless, no residue on hair or clothing
· Saves water otherwise lost by evaporation

Solid pool covers:
These covers are generally made out of plastic, vinyl, or bubble plastic or vinyl. They have a roller for storage, and take some effort to roll out and put away. They have an added safety benefit as it is difficult to fall into the pool when the cover is in place.
How much evaporation exactly do solid pool covers prevent?
Solid pool covers prevent 95% of evaporation, which is a lot! In fact they prevent 55% more evaporation than liquid pool covers! Wow! :O

References:
http://www.savewater.com.au/index.php?sectionid=177
http://www.heatsaver.co.uk/

xoxo Mira

scientific theories for hypothesis :)

Heyy everyone! :)

Well id just like to say that im really glad with the progess im making for my srp, in terms of getting the results all neatly sorted and put together, and all of the backfround research im doing! Currently i have a lot of background research and i am still planning on doing more, so its going to be hard trying to condense it all for the report! :s

Anyway, this was the first initial hypothesis that i stated: That the water in the glass with no cover and no chlorine content will evaporate the fastest, followed by the chlorinated water with no cover, followed by the chlorinated water with the liquid pool cover and finally the chlorinated water with the solid pool cover will evaporate the slowest.

But obviously from my results, this was refuted and incorrect. From the results obtained, it was actually, that the chlorinated, pool water evaporated the fastest, followed by the plain tap water, followed by the chlorinated pool water with solid pool blanket, and finally the chlorinated pool water with liquid pool cover evaporated the slowest.

WELL, i will now just separate the different measuring cups. In terms of the plain, tap water and measuring cup 2 with just the chlorinated pool water, as to which one would evaporate the fastest. There were two scientific theories/ explanations i found. But the problem was there were both conflicting, and the explanations opposed each other. So as a result i had to make an educated guess, but obviously i was wrong. Oh well, this experiment was a good way to test which theory was correct. So anyway, here were the 2 theories:
1. chlorinated water will increase boiling of water and thus less evaporation is expected
http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/how-does-salt-affect-the-boiling-point-of-water.html

2. Surface tension - Assuming that a lower surface tension will mean faster evaporation the water with the chlorine content will evaporate faster than the tap water with no chlorine content.
http://www.physicspost.com/physicsforums

well obviously as you can see for my first, initial hypothesis, i went with the first theory which stated that chlorinated, pool water would increase the boiling point of water and therefore less evaporation is expected. But this was incorrect as tested by my experiment. This must mean that the theory about the lower surface tension creating faster evaporation must be true.
Well since i didn’t know much about surface tension i decided to do some research to help understand what it was all about!

What exactly is surface tension?
Surface tension is a phenomenon in which the surface of a liquid, where the liquid is in contact with gas, acts like a thin elastic sheet. This term is typically used only when the liquid surface is in contact with gas (such as the air).

So theory 2 suggested that lower surface tension meant faster evaporation. Well simply put, lower surface tension just means that the molecules are dispersed over a greater surface area, as opposed to high surface tension where the molecules are dispersed over a much smaller surface area.

Examples of surface tension:
Ok, so i found a lot of examples of surface tension. But these were the ones that i thought were the most interesting:
Drops of water. When using a water dropper, the water does not flow in a continuous stream, but rather in a series of drops. The shape of the drops is caused by the surface tension of the water. The only reason the drop of water isn't completely spherical is because of the force of gravity pulling down on it. In the absence of gravity, the drop would minimize the surface area in order to minimize tension, which would result in a perfectly spherical shape.

Insects walking on water. Several insects are able to walk on water, such as the water strider. Their legs are formed to distribute their weight, causing the surface of the liquid to become depressed, minimizing the potential energy to create a balance of forces so that the strider can move across the surface of the water without breaking through the surface. This is similar in concept to wearing snow shoes to walk across deep snowdrifts without your feet sinking.

Needle (or paper clip) floating on water. Even though the density of these objects are greater than water, the surface tension along the depression is enough to counteract the force of gravity pulling down on the metal object.

References:
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com:8100/legacy/college/cutnell/0471713988/ste/ste.pdf
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/surten.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_tension

xoxo Mira

pH research :)

Heyy everyone!!! :)

Ok, well since the experiment has been completed and pictures have been posted, i thought it would be a good idea to be doing some more background research for my research experiment. Not only is it needed for the introduction of my report, but it would also help to answer some of my questions that i have concerned with the experiment.

Ok well today ive decided to some research on pH, because as you know ive been testing the pH levels of my four different liquids- plain, tap water, chlorinated, pool water, chlorinated pool water with liquid pool cover and chlorinated pool water with solid pool blanket, which is actually just the same as normal chlorinated, pool water- so i guess that makes it three different liquids! Haha. So anyway here is my research: (note: i have paraphrased)

What exactly is Ph?
pH is a measure of the hydrogen ion concentration. That pH scale we talked about is actually a measure of the number of H+ ions in a solution. If there are a lot of H+ ions, the pH is very low. If there are a lot of OH- ions, that means the number of H+ ions is very low, so the pH is high. It is also a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, numerically equal to 7 for neutral solutions, increasing with increasing alkalinity and decreasing with increasing acidity. The pH scale commonly in use ranges from 0 to 14.

Who uses the scale and a bit more on what it’s used for?
Scientists use something called the pH scale to measure how acidic or basic a liquid is. Although there may be many types of ions in a solution, pH focuses on concentrations of hydrogen ions (H+) and hydroxide ions (OH-). The scale goes from values very close to 0 through 14. Distilled water is 7 (right in the middle). Acids are found between a number very close to 0 and 7. Bases are from 7 to 14. Most of the liquids you find every day have a pH near 7. They are either a little below or a little above that mark. When you start looking at the pH of chemicals, the numbers go to the extremes. If you ever go into a chemistry lab, you could find solutions with a pH of 1 and others with a pH of 14. There are also very stong acids with pH values below one such as battery acid. Bases with pH values near 14 include drain cleaner and sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Those chemicals are very dangerous.

Definitions (i know all are not useful for this experiment, but they are interesting and helped me to understand the whole acid base thing better)
Acid: A solution that has an excess of H+ ions. It comes from the Latin word acidus that means "sharp" or "sour".
Base: A solution that has an excess of OH- ions. Another word for base is alkali.
Aqueous: A solution that is mainly water. Think about the word aquarium. AQUA means water. Strong Acid: An acid that has a very low pH (0-4).Strong Base: A base that has a very high pH (10-14).
Weak Acid: An acid that only partially ionizes in an aqueous solution. That means not every molecule breaks apart. They usually have a pH close to 7 (3-6).
Weak Base: A base that only partially ionizes in an aqueous solution. That means not every molecule breaks apart. They usually have a pH close to 7 (8-10).
Neutral: A solution that has a pH of 7. It is neither acidic nor basic.

The scale:
The scale is logarithmic so a change of one pH unit means a tenfold change in acid or alkaline concentration. A change from 7 to 6 represents 10 times the concentration, 7 to 5, 100 times, and so on.

Factors that affect pH levels? (this is something that i was really interested in finding out)
Air pollution, primarily from automobile exhaust and fossil fuel burning increase concentrations of sulfur and nitrogen oxides in the air. Therefore when it rains these particles or components turn it to "acid rain" and increase the acidity of lakes and streams.
Runoff that contains wastewater from farms, logging or mining sites, and other commercial and residential developments sends chemicals and other constituents that alter pH levels.

Ph indicators:
A pH indicator is a chemical compound that is added in small amounts to a solution so that the pH (acidity or alkalinity) of the solution can be determined easily. Hence a pH indicator is a chemical detector for protons (H+). Normally, the indicator causes the colour of the solution to change depending on the pH.

Ok now this is the question that i am also really interested in, and will definitely be very useful for my report. “Do different Ph levels affect the rate of evaporation in different liquids?”
The evaporation of liquids depend upon things such as air flow, relative, humidity, wind, temperature, surface area etc. Therefore different chemical characteristics such as pH or alkalinity do not have an effect on the evaporation process.

References
http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/ph/PH
http://www.chem4kids.com/files/react_acidbase.html
http://www.bpa.gov/corporate/kr/ed/kidsinthecreek/topics/waterquality/ph.htm
http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/ph/PH_indicator

xoxo Mira

week 2 summary table and pictures! :)

heyy everyone!! :)

ok here are the pictures for the end of wk 2!!! in these pictures ive taken you can really see just how much water has been lost through evaporation!! wow!! and you can also compare this with the figures in the table.

i wanted the table to be at the top, but unfortunately its right down the bottom!! lol! but yeah this table just shows the evaporation levels for wk 2!

xoxo Mira

results day 15 :)

Heyy everyone!!!!!!!!!! :) :)

Well im very happy today as this is it! my experiment has been completed! Yay! Ok well now i know that my results definitely have refuted my first, initial hypothesis! Woops- lol! But thats ok, that just means more to talk about in my report! Anyway here are the results for day 15, the final day!

Water evaporation:
Measuring cup 1- plain water: current height in ml: 200ml
Current height in cm: 6cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 10ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/ mm: 3mm

Measuring cup 2- chlorinated water: current height in ml: 193 ml
Current height in cm: 5.8 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 10ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm:3mm

Measuring cup 3- chlorinated water with liquid pool cover: current height in ml: 213mm
Current height in cm: 6.4 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 7 ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm: 2mm

Measuring cup 4- chlorinated water with solid pool cover: current height in ml: 211mm
Current height in cm: 6.1 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 3 ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm: 1 mm


Colour and appearance:
Measuring cup1- plain water: this is pretty much the same as day 13 in terms of colour and clearness of the water. Once again the small, tiny bubbles are moving more towards the bottom of the cup. This is a big change from day 1, when all the bubbles were evenly dispersed amongst the cup.

Measuring cup 2- chlorinated water: this also is the same as day 13. The colour and appearance of the water in the cup is still clean and clear with no bubbles, this is expected.

Measuring cup 3- chlorinated water with liquid pool cover: there once again is not much change. The liquid pool cover still looks like bundles of murky clouds at the surface of the chlorinated water, and also, at the very top surface of the chlorinated water, I have observed little dots starting to appear.

Measuring cup 4- chlorinated water with solid pool cover: the same as measuring cup 2 for colour and appearance.


Ph, chlorine, alkalinity and stabiliser content:
For all the measuring cups, this is the same as both days 1,3,5,7,9,11,13 which were all the same. Although the different waters are being evaporated from the measuring cups, the Ph, chlorine, alkalinity and stabiliser content will remain the same in ratio to the amount of water remaining.

Ps. I will post the summary table for wk 2 soon! I wont post the chemical characteristics table because as you can see from my previous posts that has all remained the same. So yeah ill just post the evaporation table. Oh and ill also post the final pictures for wk 2!

xoxo Mira

results day 13 :)

Heyy everyone! :)

Well fortunately my experiment is almost coming to a close, im on the 13th day!! Wooo! That means only 2 more days to go! Im glad i planned the experiment to fit into this timing, because now I have 2 weeks to complete the actual report, which is exactly how much time ms zhang said we should leave to complete the report. So that is good! Anyway, here are the results for day 13!

Water evaporation:
Measuring cup 1- plain water: current height in ml: 210ml
Current height in cm: 6.3cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 7ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/ mm: 2mm

Measuring cup 2- chlorinated water: current height in ml: 203 ml
Current height in cm: 6.1 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 10ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm:3mm

Measuring cup 3- chlorinated water with liquid pool cover: current height in ml: 220mm
Current height in cm: 6.6 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 13 ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm: 4mm

Measuring cup 4- chlorinated water with solid pool cover: current height in ml: 214 mm
Current height in cm: 6.4 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 3 ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm: 1 mm

Colour and appearance:
Measuring cup1- plain water: this is pretty much the same as day 11 in terms of colour and clearness of the water. Once again the small, tiny bubbles are moving more towards the bottom of the cup. This is a big change from day 1, when all the bubbles were evenly dispersed amongst the cup.

Measuring cup 2- chlorinated water: this also is the same as day 11. The colour and appearance of the water in the cup is still clean and clear with no bubbles, this is expected.

Measuring cup 3- chlorinated water with liquid pool cover: there once again is not much change. The liquid pool cover still looks like bundles of murky clouds at the surface of the chlorinated water, and also, at the very top surface of the chlorinated water, I have observed little dots starting to appear.

Measuring cup 4- chlorinated water with solid pool cover: the same as measuring cup 2 for colour and appearance.

Ph, chlorine, alkalinity and stabiliser content:
For all the measuring cups, this is the same as both days 1,3,5,7,9,11 which were all the same. Although the different waters are being evaporated from the measuring cups, the Ph, chlorine, alkalinity and stabiliser content will remain the same in ratio to the amount of water remaining.

xoxo Mira

results day 11 :)

Heyy everyone! :)

well so far the experiment is remaining consistent in terms of which liquids in which measuring cups are evaporating faster. Although the results so far have refuted my current hypothesis, i will be doing research into why this is so. Maybe there are some scientific theories to explain this???

Water evaporation:
Measuring cup 1- plain water: current height in ml: 217ml
Current height in cm: 6.5cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 10ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/ mm: 3mm

Measuring cup 2- chlorinated water: current height in ml: 213 ml
Current height in cm: 6.4 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 10ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm:3mm

Measuring cup 3- chlorinated water with liquid pool cover: current height in ml: 233 mm
Current height in cm: 7 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 10 ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm: 3mm

Measuring cup 4- chlorinated water with solid pool cover: current height in ml: 217mm
Current height in cm: 6.5 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 13 ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm:4 mm

Colour and appearance:
Measuring cup1- plain water: this is pretty much the same as day 9 in terms of colour and clearness of the water. Once again the small, tiny bubbles are moving more towards the bottom of the cup. This is a big change from day 1, when all the bubbles were evenly dispersed amongst the cup.

Measuring cup 2- chlorinated water: this also is the same as day 9. The colour and appearance of the water in the cup is still clean and clear with no bubbles, this is expected.

Measuring cup 3- chlorinated water with liquid pool cover: there once again is not much change. The liquid pool cover still looks like bundles of murky clouds at the surface of the chlorinated water, and also, at the very top surface of the chlorinated water, I have observed little dots starting to appear.

Measuring cup 4- chlorinated water with solid pool cover: the same as measuring cup 2 for colour and appearance.

Ph, chlorine, alkalinity and stabiliser content:
For all the measuring cups, this is the same as both days 1,3,5,7,9 which were all the same. Although the different waters are being evaporated from the measuring cups, the Ph, chlorine, alkalinity and stabiliser content will remain the same in ratio to the amount of water remaining.

xoxo Mira

results day 9 :)

Heyy everyone! :)
Ok well, I’ll just get straight to the results for day 9! Yay more than halfway there!

Water evaporation:
Measuring cup 1- plain water: current height in ml: 227ml
Current height in cm: 6.8cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 13.3ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/ mm: 4mm

Measuring cup 2- chlorinated water: current height in ml: 223 ml
Current height in cm: 6.7 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 7ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm:2mm

Measuring cup 3- chlorinated water with liquid pool cover: current height in ml: 243 mm
Current height in cm: 7.3 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 7 ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm: 2mm

Measuring cup 4- chlorinated water with solid pool cover: current height in ml: 230 mm
Current height in cm: 6.9 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 7 ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm:2 mm

Colour and appearance:
Measuring cup1- plain water: this is pretty much the same as day 7 in terms of colour and clearness of the water. Once again the small, tiny bubbles are moving more towards the bottom of the cup. This is a big change from day 1, when all the bubbles were evenly dispersed amongst the cup.

Measuring cup 2- chlorinated water: this also is the same as day 7. The colour and appearance of the water in the cup is still clean and clear with no bubbles, this is expected.

Measuring cup 3- chlorinated water with liquid pool cover: there once again is not much change. The liquid pool cover still looks like bundles of murky clouds at the surface of the chlorinated water, and also, at the very top surface of the chlorinated water, I have observed little dots starting to appear.

Measuring cup 4- chlorinated water with solid pool cover: the same as measuring cup 2 for colour and appearance.

Ph, chlorine, alkalinity and stabiliser content:
For all the measuring cups, this is the same as both days 1,3,5,7 which were all the same. Although the different waters are being evaporated from the measuring cups, the Ph, chlorine, alkalinity and stabiliser content will remain the same in ratio to the amount of water remaining.

xoxo Mira

pictures for week 1 :)

heyy everyone!!! :)

ok so these are the pictures from th end of week 1! :) the first shot is just a picture of all the measuring cups so you cant really see much water loss. but pictures 1,2,3 and 4 of the individual cups, you can see the water loss yay! and the last picture is kind of like an aerial shot of them all. id also like to point out for measuring cup 3 in the picture you can clearly see the liquid pool cover and how it kinda lookes like clouds and has spread to the side.

xoxo Mira

Summary of wk 1 results shown in tables :)

heyy everyone! :)

in this blog ill include the weekly summary tables. sorry that the tables came out so small! as you know i did them on word then pasted them on paint and saved them as a jpeg, and whenever i try to make them bigger, it get all blurry and distorted! :(


Table 1: Summary of water evaporation in 4 measuring cups for wk 1:



Table 2: summary of pH, chlorine, alkalinity and stabiliser level in all 4 measuring cups for wk 1:

Table 3: summary of colour and appearance of all 4 measuring cups for wk 1:

Overall comment:

I am very shocked with my results! Originally, as you can tell from my hypothesis, I thought that the water in the glass with no cover and no chlorine content will evaporate the fastest, followed by the chlorinated water with no cover, followed by the chlorinated water with the liquid pool cover and finally the chlorinated water with the solid pool cover will evaporate the slowest. But as you can see from my results, this is certainly not the case! In fact so far, measuring cup 2 (chlorinated water) is evaporating the fastest, followed by measuring cup 4 (chlorinated water with solid pool cover), then cup 1(plain water) and finally cup 3 (chlorinated water with liquid pool cover- so far has had no evaporation!).

ps: i will post the weekly pictures in the next blog!

xoxo Mira

results day 7 :)

Heyy everyone! :)

So here are the results for the seventh day of conducting the experiment! I will record the results as usual just as I have for the past few days, but then I am also going to include a few extra tables (shown in one of my previous blogs) that will act a sort of summary for the whole week of all the different aspects I have regularly covered in my results. So here are day 7 results:

Water evaporation:
Measuring cup 1- plain water: current height in ml: 240ml
Current height in cm: 7.2cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 2ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/ mm: 0.5mm

Measuring cup 2- chlorinated water: current height in ml: 230 ml
Current height in cm: 6.9 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 3ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm: 1mm

Measuring cup 3- chlorinated water with liquid pool cover: current height in ml: 250 mm
Current height in cm: 7.5 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 0 ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm: 0

Measuring cup 4- chlorinated water with solid pool cover: current height in ml: 237 mm
Current height in cm: 7.1 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 3 ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm: 1mm

Ph, chlorine, alkalinity and stabiliser content:
For all the measuring cups, this is the same as both days 1,3 and 5, which were all the same. Although the different waters are being evaporated from the measuring cups, the Ph, chlorine, alkalinity and stabiliser content will remain the same in ratio to the amount of water remaining.

Colour and appearance:
Measuring cup1- plain water: this is pretty much the same as day 3 in terms of colour and clearness of the water. Once again the small, tiny bubbles are moving more towards the bottom of the cup. This is a big change from day 1, when all the bubbles were evenly dispersed amongst the cup.

Measuring cup 2- chlorinated water: this also is the same as day 3. The colour and appearance of the water in the cup is still clean and clear with no bubbles, this is expected.

Measuring cup 3- chlorinated water with liquid pool cover: there once again is not much change. The liquid pool cover still looks like bundles of murky clouds at the surface of the chlorinated water, and also, at the very top surface of the chlorinated water, I have observed little dots starting to appear.

Measuring cup 4- chlorinated water with solid pool cover: the same as measuring cup 2 for colour and appearance.

ps: ill include the summary tables and an overall comment of the weekly results in te next blog!

xoxo Mira

results day 5 :)

Heyy everyone! :)

Here are the results for day 5.

Water evaporation:
Measuring cup 1- plain water: current height in ml: 242ml
Current height in cm: 7.25cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 3ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/ mm: 1mm

Measuring cup 2- chlorinated water: current height in ml: 233 ml
Current height in cm: 7 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 10ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm: 3mm

Measuring cup 3- chlorinated water with liquid pool cover: current height in ml: 250 mm
Current height in cm: 7.5 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 0 ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm: 0

Measuring cup 4- chlorinated water with solid pool cover: current height in ml: 240 mm
Current height in cm: 7.2 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 3 ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm: 1mm

Ph, chlorine, alkalinity and stabiliser content:
For all the measuring cups, this is the same as both days 1 and 3, which were all the same. Although the different waters are being evaporated from the measuring cups, the Ph, chlorine, alkalinity and stabiliser content will remain the same in ratio to the amount of water remaining.

Colour and appearance:
Measuring cup 1-plain water: the colour of the water is still quite clear and clean, and its appearance has changed a little. The small, tiny bubbles are still present, but just like I said before, they are still moving more towards the bottom, and the ones at the top are starting to disappear.

Measuring cup 2- chlorinated water: The colour and appearance of the water in the measuring cup has not changed. It is still completely clean and clear with no bubbles.

Measuring cup 3- chlorinated water with liquid pool cover: once again, the liquid pool cover still looks like small bundles of murky clouds. It still has a length of about half a centimetre and is continuing to settle at the top- just like a cover should. Before all of the water in the measuring cup was looking quite murky and opaque, but now it is starting to clear up.

Measuring cup 4- chlorinated water with solid pool cover: this is exactly the same as measuring cup 2.

xoxo Mira

results day 3 :)

Heyy everyone! :)

So far it is the third day and the experiment is going well. Although there is not much evaporation occurring in the measuring cups, there is some and I will record my results here:

Water evaporation:
Measuring cup 1- plain water: current height in ml: 245ml
Current height in cm: 7.35cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 5ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/ mm: 1.5mm

Measuring cup 2- chlorinated water: current height in ml:243 ml
Current height in cm: 7.3 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 7ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm: 2mm

Measuring cup 3- chlorinated water with liquid pool cover: current height in ml: 250 mm
Current height in cm: 7.5 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 0 ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm: 0

Measuring cup 4- chlorinated water with solid pool cover: current height in ml: 243 mm
Current height in cm: 7.3 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 7 ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm: 2mm

Ph, chlorine, alkalinity and stabiliser content:
Measuring cup 1- plain water: Ph level: 7.2 (this is in the ok range-this range lasts from 7.2 to 7.8)
Chlorine level: 0 (this is in the low range- this range lasts from 0 to 0.5)
Alkalinity: 80 ppm (this is in the ok range- this range lasts from 80 to 120)
Stabilizer: 0 ppm (this is low, there is only one figure)

Measuring cup 2- chlorinated water: Ph level: 6.8 (this is in the low range- this range lasts from 6.2 to 6.8)
Chlorine level: 1 (this is in the pool ok range- this range lasts from 1-2.5)
Alkalinity: 0 ppm (this is in the low range- this range lasts from 0-40)
Stabilizer: 0 ppm (this is low, there is only 1 figure)

Measuring cup 3- chlorinated water with liquid pool cover. Ph level: 6.2 (this is in the low range- this range lasts from 6.2 to 6.8)
Chlorine level: 1 (this is in the pool ok range- this range lasts from 1-2.5)
Alkalinity: 40 ppm (this is in the low range- this range lasts from 0 to 40)
Stabilizer: 0 ppm (this is low, there is only 1 figure)

Measuring cup 4- chlorinated water with solid pool cover
The measurements for this liquid are exactly the same as the ones listed for measuring cup 2, as they both contain the same chlorinated water.
Ph level: 6.8 (this is in the low range- this range lasts from 6.2 to 6.8)
Chlorine level: 1 (this is in the pool ok range- this range lasts from 1-2.5)
Alkalinity: 0 ppm (this is in the low range- this range lasts from 0-40)
Stabilizer: 0 ppm (this is low, there is only 1 figure)

Colour and appearance:
Measuring cup 1- plain water: the colour is clear and the appearance is quite bubbly. Before there were tiny bubbles everywhere in the water, top, middle and bottom. But now they are starting to gather more towards the bottom and there are less bubbles at the top.

Measuring cup 2- chlorinated water: the colour is clear, and the appearance is quite clean and clear as well. There are no bubbles like in glass 1and it is completely clear. So as you can see, this has stayed the same.

Measuring cup 3- chlorinated water with liquid pool cover: the colour is opaque and the appearance is murky. The liquid pool cover has risen to the top and has a length of approximately half a cm. It is translucent and murky white. Also, the liquid pool cover now kind of looks like bundles of clouds. A sudden movement of the measuring cup, for example when I lift it up to measure it, causes the liquid pool cover to spread out, but after some time it settles at the top again.

Measuring cup 4- chlorinated water with solid pool cover: the colour and appearance are exactly the same as measuring cup 2.

xoxo Mira

AQUA STRIP pictures- showing pH, chlorine, alkalinity and stabilser levels :)

heyy everyone! :)

so here are all the pictures of the AQUA CHECK strips for all four measuring cups. I have also included two extra: one for concentrated liquid pool cover and the other for concentrated chlorine. i was just interested in what these would look like!

the first coloured square you can see (starting from the left) is the pH level, followed by the chlorine level, the alkalinity level and the stabilser level. this first picture shows (from left to write) the strips for concentrated chlorine, concentrated liquid pool cover, measuring cup 3, measuring cup 2 and finally measuring cup 1.

NOTE: I havent included the strip for measuring cup 4 as it the same as the strip for measuring cup 2, as they both contain the same chlorinated water.

xoxo Mira

results day 1 :)

heyy everyone! :)

Testing the results:
Now, for testing the results from my experiment, I was thinking of creating three tables (shown below) highlighting the three main points. The first table of course, will record the water evaporation. So 1column could say water level in ml, the second column could say: water level height in cm, the third could say: amount of water evaporated in ml and the fourth column could say: water height evaporated in cm. I think that covers all the aspects of water evaporation.

For table 2, the first column could record the ph level of all 4 liquids, the second column could record the chlorine level of all liquids, the 3rd column could record the total alkalinity of the different liquids and the fourth column could record the stabilizer level.

For the third table, this would record the colour and appearance of the liquids in the four different measuring cups. I was thinking that the first column would record the colour and the second column would record the appearance, eg bubbly, murky etc. Before starting the experiment, I thought that all liquids would have the same colour and appearance, but now, after setting the experiment up and observing it, I have realised that this is not the case. I think that this would be a very interesting table to have.

I was thinking to have the tables drawn once a week as a sort of summary for all the records and observations for the week, and then every 2 days to just record the results normally, not in a table.

This is what table 1 would look like (measuring water evaporation)


This is what table 2 would look like (measuring the ph,chlorine, alkalinity and stabiliser content of all liquids)



This is what table 3 would look like (recording colour and appearance) :



Okay, now for the results from day 1!

Water evaporation:
Well since it is the first day there had been no water evaporation. All the liquids in the glasses are the same height they were to start off with:
Measuring cup 1-plain water: current height in ml: 250 ml
Current height in cm: 7.5 cm
Current water evaporation loss in ml: 0ml
Current water evaporation loss in cm/mm: 0 cm
NOTE: the measurements for today are all the same for measuring cups 2, 3 and 4 as well.

Ph, chlorine, alkalinity and stabiliser content:
Measuring cup 1- plain water: (i will include pictures of all the strips in the next blog, as the wont post in this one!)
Ph level: 7.2 (this is in the ok range-this range lasts from 7.2 to 7.8)
Chlorine level: 0 (this is in the low range- this range lasts from 0 to 0.5)
Alkalinity: 80 ppm (this is in the ok range- this range lasts from 80 to 120)
Stabilizer: 0 ppm (this is low, there is only one figure)

Measuring cup 2- chlorinated water: Ph level: 6.8 (this is in the low range- this range lasts from 6.2 to 6.8)
Chlorine level: 1 (this is in the pool ok range- this range lasts from 1-2.5)
Alkalinity: 0 ppm (this is in the low range- this range lasts from 0-40)
Stabilizer: 0 ppm (this is low, there is only 1 figure)

Measuring cup 3- chlorinated water with liquid pool cover Ph level: 6.2 (this is in the low range- this range lasts from 6.2 to 6.8)
Chlorine level: 1 (this is in the pool ok range- this range lasts from 1-2.5)
Alkalinity: 40 ppm (this is in the low range- this range lasts from 0 to 40)
Stabilizer: 0 ppm (this is low, there is only 1 figure)

Measuring cup 4- chlorinated water with solid pool cover
The measurements for this liquid are exactly the same as the ones listed for measuring cup 2, as they both contain the same chlorinated water.
Ph level: 6.8 (this is in the low range- this range lasts from 6.2 to 6.8)
Chlorine level: 1 (this is in the pool ok range- this range lasts from 1-2.5)
Alkalinity: 0 ppm (this is in the low range- this range lasts from 0-40)
Stabilizer: 0 ppm (this is low, there is only 1 figure)

Colour and appearance:
Measuring cup 1- plain water: the colour is clear and the appearance is quite bubbly. There are tiny bubbles everywhere in the liquid.
Measuring cup 2- chlorinated water: the colour is clear, and the appearance is quite clean and clear as well. There are no bubbles like in glass 1and it is completely clear.
Measuring cup 3- chlorinated water with liquid pool cover: the colour is opaque and the appearance is murky. The liquid pool cover has risen to the top and has a length of approximately half a cm. It is translucent and murky white.
Measuring cup 4- chlorinated water with solid pool cover: the colour and appearance are exactly the same as measuring cup 2.

ps: i will post the pictures of all of the AQUA CHECK strips for all 4 measuring cups in the next blog (they wont fit here!)

xoxo Mira

Label pictures :)

heyy everyone! :)
these are the pictures of the labels that wouldnt post in my previous blog.

xoxo Mira