Science City · Case 02Key Use: ArgueELD-SC~20 min

Two Filters, One Intake Pipe

Fine silt clogs the single fine mesh in twenty minutes. Compare a single screen with a two-stage gravel-and-mesh design. The path branches. What you ask, and what you do with the evidence, changes the ending.

After Tuesday's storm, Mateo Cruz notices that a single 100-micron wire mesh clogs again every twenty minutes because coarse river sand and fine clay hit the screen at the same time. Amina and Dr. Raman test a two-stage filter that places a coarse pebble bed in front of the fine wire mesh. Students compare the two designs and argue for the two-stage system using flow-duration data.

Communicative Objective

Students compare two engineering designs using quantitative test data and argue why a two-stage filter outperforms a single fine screen.

Bench: Evidence Sorter

Story Cast in This Case

Amina Yusuf

Student researcher

Dr. Priya Raman

Scientist

Mateo Cruz

Engineer

Target Academic Vocabulary (6 Terms)

stage: one step or layer in a multi-step engineering process

coarse: made of larger, rougher pieces such as pebbles or gravel

capacity: the amount a system can hold or process before clogging

duration: how long something continues to work before stopping

tradeoff: a balance where gaining one advantage requires accepting a small cost

evidence: measured numbers or observations that support an engineering claim

Two Filters, One Intake Pipe

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