Where Is All The Water?
Procedure:
1. Remove the labels off the 1-liter bottles & rinse them out if needed.
2. Fill 10 1-liter bottles with water.
3. Calculate how many milliliters are in the 10 L. (1 L = 1000 ml).
Reservoir
Oceans
Ice (glaciers &
polar ice caps)
Ground H2O
Saltwater lakes
and streams
Freshwater lakes
and streams
Atmosphere
Distribution of Water in the Hydrosphere
Percentage of
Percentage of fresh H2O
Total H2O
(Ice and liquid)
97.54
-1.81
73.9
Percentage of fresh H2O
(Liquid only)
---
0.63
0.007
25.7
--
98.4
--
0.009
0.36
1.4
0.001
0.04
0.2
These figures account for 99.9% of all water. Some water is tied up in the biosphere (living stuff) and soil moisture.
Investigate:
A. Ice holds 1.81 % of all the water on earth.
a. If 10 L represents ALL the water on Earth, calculate the number of milliliters that
represents the water found in ice.
B.
Remove this water from the 1 L bottles and pour into a separate container labeled “ice as
glaciers and ice caps”.
a. Repeat steps 1 & 2 for the water found in ground water, fresh water found in lakes and
streams, and the atmosphere.
b. Record your calculations.
c. Calculate but do not remove the number of milliliters of water in the oceans and
saltwater.
d. Find the sum of the six values. How do you account for the “ missing” (less than
100%) water?
C. Develop your own method for making a model of the percentages of each category shown in
the table for total fresh water and for liquid fresh water. Use something else than water as the
physical material of your model.
QUESTIONS:
1. What source of fresh water provides most of the drinking water for humans?
2. Name and explain three threats to drinkable freshwater in today’s world.
3. How can we humans around the world get more water to drink?
4. How can we humans around the world get more safe water to drink?
5. How expensive is your solution?
6. How should this expense be paid for? By Whom?
JOURNAL:
From your work with the models, write down several observations or discoveries that you found
most surprising or striking. Explain your observations.