Beverly+Chen,+Jennifer+Wang,+Josephine+Hsu,+Arie+Corsetti

Calcium Levels in Water The Quality of Water as Discerned By Calcium Levels //How does the level of calcium in different water supplies affect the health of Homo sapiens? //
 * Research Question: **

The element calcium, also known as **Ca**, is known for its assistance in human bone and teeth growth, as well as controlling the body's heart-rate as well as other metabolic processes. Without calcium, human beings are subject to degenerative bone ailments like osteoporosis, as well as suffer from kidney problems and metabolic insufficiencies. Knowing the exact amount of calcium in our water can help us to determine exactly how much of this precious mineral we're ingesting. In this experiment, we used water from four sources:
 * Why? **





Some benefits of calcium that most people know already is that it stabilizes bone structure, teeth, and cell membranes; calcium also ensures that nerve and muscle impulses are properly transmitted and helps to prevent blood cloting. If a body is unable to obtain enough calcium, bones can decalcify, causing osteoporosis and bone fractures become more likely. However, studies have also demonstrated a negative correlation between mortality from cardiovascular diseases and water hardness (too much calcium). Hard water can also cause kidney diseases. Calcium can also corrode the skin, especially when it comes in contact with the eyes and mucous membranes. Hard water ingested through fruits and vegetables also play a factor.Adults need about 800mg of calcium per day, but a lethal dose of calcium (from oral intake) is about 25 mg / kg body weight. It is recommended that the upper limit of calcium intake per day is less than 2000 mg.
 * What? **

Using a probe, we will determine the amounts of calcium in samples of water from different sources, including distilled water, fountain water, tap water, bottled water (Rainboii) pool water and river water from Yang Ming Shan. From this investigation, we will be able to learn the amount of calcium intake from water, so that we can adjust other dietary intakes to not exceed the recommended intake of calcium.
 * How? **


 * Materials: **
 * Six 500ml beakers
 * Five 100ml beakers
 * A 100ml graduated cylinder
 * A pipit distilled water
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px;">Fountain water
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px;">Tap water
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px;">Bottled water (Raiboii)
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px;">Pool water
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px;">River Water
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px;">Calcium Probe


 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 80%;">Experimental Method **
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px;">Clean six of 500ml beakers with soap to prevent chemicals in the beaker contaminating the water. Label each beaker with the name name suits the source of water.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px;">Clean five of 100ml beakers with soap to prevent chemicals in the beaker contaminating the water.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px;">Label each beaker from 1 to 5.
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px;">Use graduated cylinder and pipit to pour 50ml of distilled water into each of the 100ml beakers.
 * 5) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px;">Use the probe to measure the level of calcium in the water. Callibrate with 10mg/L lower value and 1000mg/L for upper value
 * 6) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px;">Wait for 60 seconds
 * 7) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px;">The probe will record the data every 5 seconds.
 * 8) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px;">Repeat step 3 to 8 for each of type of water, thus this would be repeated for 6 times in total.


 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 80%;">Results: **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 80%;">



<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px;">As evident from the graph above, there is a distinct difference between water deemed fit for human consumption (the distilled and the bottled water) as compared to water from other sources, such as the river, the pool, and the tap water.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px;">Conclusion: **