You’ve probably heard this a thousand times, but you should definitely not drink sea water. Sea water is so salty that your body will be forced to pee to expel all that salt, and you’ll end up having to expel more than you drank.
The end result is that you are left dehydrated.
It’s a bit ironic that we need water to survive, but the largest source of water on the planet isn’t drinkable water.
This exact dilemma has been on scientists’ minds for the longest time. Just how can you make sea water drinkable?
Desalination is the answer. But desalination is no simple process. It’s usually time and energy consuming.
At least, it normally is.
But these high school students have put their minds together and come up with an awesome research project as a possible answer.
Its scientific value and implications are well worth the news it’s making.
Their names are Gracie Cornish, Laurel Hudson, Kathleen Troy, and Maia Vollen. Helping them make the project into a reality was associate professor Jonathan B. Boreyko and grad student Ndidi Eyegheleme.
They published their work in a journal, and titled it “Transpiration-powered desalination water bottle”.
Taking major cues from mangrove trees, the water bottle design makes use of two key features to work its magic (well, it’s science and not magic but you get the idea).
Those would be a solar fin with a micromesh supporting it, and a film of “continuous” nanopores where the work is done.
Cornish, Hudson, Troy, and Vollen came up with the idea from observing similar technology in hiker’s straws.
A reverse osmosis process then happens in the chamber, which their paper explains in more detail.
Their design is still purely conceptual, but I would absolutely love to see someone attempt a physical prototype.
Still, let’s not forget how outstanding of a project this is to come from such a young group of people.
Goes to show why you should take your studies seriously, and why science is always cool.
Read their whole paper in the linked sources below, and please give this article a share as well.
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