Unit 4: Water use and the Environment

Learn about the potential of algae as a material for making biofuel.

Mussels are a kind of invertebrate that filter food out of the water they live in. This makes them a great tool for monitoring environmental water quality and tracking bioaccumulation in aquatic food webs.

Make a model of the water cycle and find out how water moves around on planet Earth.

Water is a precious natural resource. What happens if it gets polluted? Learn how water can be cleaned with this hands-on activity?

Learn about the chemical reaction that happens between acid rain and limestone.

The fracking process gets natural gases out of rocks. This process can have effects on freshwater, water quality and even earthquakes!

What are microplastics? How are plastics polluting aquatic ecosystems?

1 diagram illustrating the water cycle

The water in the oceans has travelled vast distances. It has even time spent deep below the surface of the Earth, trapped inside the mineral ringwoodite.

The ocean is full of very small but very useful creatures called microbes. Without them, none of the sea plants or animals you’ve seen would exist!

Humidity is an important part of life on Earth and life in space. This backgrounder explains what humidity is, how it is measured and how it affects us both mentally and physically.