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Reduction of Calcium Concentrations by the Brita® Water Filtration System: A Practical Experiment in Titrimetry and Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy

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Kimberly G. Olsen and Lisa J. Ulicny

Department of Chemistry, Loyola College in Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21210-2699

J. Chem. Educ., 2001, 78 (7), p 941

DOI: 10.1021/ed078p941

Publication Date (Web): July 1, 2001

Section:

History, Education, and Documentation

Abstract

We have examined the ability of a popular water filtration system to decrease the calcium concentration of solutions passed through the filter. The students' current interest in environmental and medical issues, combined with the scientific examination of a household item often used by the students and their families, results in a successful experiment that generates significant curiosity from the participants while they learn an important set of quantitative tools. The experiment has three parts, which examine the calcium content of standard solutions before and after treatment. The laboratory requires teamwork, titration lab work, and graphical analysis utilizing a common spreadsheet program.

Keywords (Audience):

Second-Year Undergraduate

Keywords (Domain):

Analytical Chemistry

Keywords (Pedagogy):

Collaborative / Cooperative Learning

Keywords (Subject):

Atomic Spectroscopy

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