Provided by Prince William County Service Authority
What type of carbon filter works the best?
That’s the question that Pennington Traditional student Heather Tang answered in her award-winning science project. Entitled Black + Green = Clean, the project was recognized last week by the Prince William County Service Authority as the top water/environmental science-based entry in this year’s Prince William-Manassas Regional Science Fair.
The eighth grader’s motivation for the project was the water quality in her fish tank. Using a green food dye, Tang determined that the powder-based activated carbon was more effective in cleaning her fish tank than granular or solid-based activated carbon because of its larger surface area.
“I always change out the filter, which has activated carbon,” said Tang. “While I am changing the filter, I am thinking ‘what’s in this, what makes this a good filter and how does it work?’”
Because it’s lightweight and easily portable, Tang said powder-based activated carbon would be very effective in remote areas of the world where clean drinking water is not easily accessible for the people that live there.
Tang was honored along with eight other students at the Service Authority’s April Board meeting on April 11. Receiving top honors at the High School Division was the Governor’s School team of Daniel Gigi, Abtin Ghaffari and Shiva Manandhar. Melanie Rosado of Colgan was second in the High School Division while Ayaan Siddiqui of Benton and Celia Calabria of Marsteller were second and third, respectively, in the Middle School Division.
Kaitlyn Thai of Ronald Reagan and Jessica Buckley of Bull Run also won General Manager’s Awards in the Middle School Division.
“I am always amazed by our students’ abilities to take scientific concepts and apply them to real-world issues, particularly to issues relating to water,” said Service Authority Education & Outreach Coordinator Audrey Arnold. “This year’s group of Service Authority Organizational Award winners was particularly strong, and we look forward to seeing what these students bring to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics fields in the years to come.”
