HOLY SH$%!!! I nearly burned my fracking lips off. You said the water was READY. I strongly suggest that you add Step 5 - wait an hour until water is cool.
I am initiating a class action law suit against you. Any other users who have been injured by this egregious instructable, please contact me at burnedlips@niceone.com
The instructions for "cleaning" water will suffice if your purpose is to sanitize it (a.k.a. disinfect, kill bacteria, etc.). What it will NOT do is remove impurities (e.g. lead, mercury, dirt, etc.). In fact, you'll be increasing the concentration of said impurities, because they will not evaporate but the water will, and so you'll have less water but the same amount of impurities.
That's not to say that your idea is bad; in fact, it's possible to do exactly what you say, but you're missing a couple of necessary steps. That water that evaporates out WILL be extremely pure (not taking into account whatever particles it attaches to in the air, which would be negligible anyway). You'll need a cool surface, slanted to let water slide down (I'm thinking a pane of glass or a sheet of plastic, and it'll need to form a "tent" above the boiling water. You can actually see some of the condensation forming at the top of the container in the picture, where the glass is just a bit cooler than it is down closer to the flame.
As the water boils, and steam comes up, the steam will condense on whatever you made the tent/hood out of. You'll lose a lot of water this way, but if you can manage to get that condensed water to collect in some kind of drip container, you've got yourself water that's about as clean as you can hope to get it.
This is one way to get clean water. Another is through filtration, (e.g. charcoal), but the nice thing about the boiling method is that it's actively killing bacteria, while even the best filter may let some germs through.
One other addendum, if you're going to be using a glass container, like the coffee container shown above, be very careful. Those containers usually explicitly have a warning label on them that says not to do what you're doing above with it, because it can cause it to shatter. In reality, you'll *probably* be okay, provided you don't apply any sudden change in temperature. Instead, I'd recommend metal pots, to be on the safe side.
In disaster scenarios the W.H.O. suggest this idea to purify water; get a 2 litter plastic drinks bottle. Filter the contaminated water through some cloth to remove solid matter as organisms lock onto the solids. Place the bottle in bright daylight for a min of 12 hours two days is better. The daylight (ultra violate)sterilises the water and makes it not safe by western standards but clean enough in disaster scenarios to drink.
I'm a little unclear on step 2; I wasn't sure what to do with the bowl of water while I was lighting the stove.
Also, can you substitute the bowl for some other vessel?
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13 Comments
greenbriel 16 years ago
strangespark 15 years ago
!Andrew_Modder! 16 years ago
MrCoffee 16 years ago
That's not to say that your idea is bad; in fact, it's possible to do exactly what you say, but you're missing a couple of necessary steps. That water that evaporates out WILL be extremely pure (not taking into account whatever particles it attaches to in the air, which would be negligible anyway). You'll need a cool surface, slanted to let water slide down (I'm thinking a pane of glass or a sheet of plastic, and it'll need to form a "tent" above the boiling water. You can actually see some of the condensation forming at the top of the container in the picture, where the glass is just a bit cooler than it is down closer to the flame.
As the water boils, and steam comes up, the steam will condense on whatever you made the tent/hood out of. You'll lose a lot of water this way, but if you can manage to get that condensed water to collect in some kind of drip container, you've got yourself water that's about as clean as you can hope to get it.
This is one way to get clean water. Another is through filtration, (e.g. charcoal), but the nice thing about the boiling method is that it's actively killing bacteria, while even the best filter may let some germs through.
One other addendum, if you're going to be using a glass container, like the coffee container shown above, be very careful. Those containers usually explicitly have a warning label on them that says not to do what you're doing above with it, because it can cause it to shatter. In reality, you'll *probably* be okay, provided you don't apply any sudden change in temperature. Instead, I'd recommend metal pots, to be on the safe side.
Citwi 17 years ago
RTourn 18 years ago
zachninme 17 years ago
Wonderground 17 years ago
belenus 17 years ago
akanigel 17 years ago
zachninme 17 years ago
Venkt 18 years ago
pencilneck 18 years ago