How does filtration remove particulates?

How does filtration remove particulates?

• A. By physical straining and adsorption as water passes through media.
• B. By boiling water.
• C. By sedimentation.
• D. By chemical oxidation only.

Answer: (A)

Filtration removes particulates primarily by physically blocking them as water moves through a porous medium, with some particles also sticking to the media surfaces (adsorption) as they contact it. Large particles that are bigger than the pore openings are trapped by straining, while smaller suspended particles can be captured when they adsorb onto the media or are carried into spaces where they can’t pass through. This combination reduces solids and turbidity in the water. Boiling water doesn’t remove particulates; it kills organisms and changes dissolved chemistry but doesn’t filter out solids. Sedimentation uses gravity to let particles settle out before or after filtration, but that’s a separate process from filtration itself. Chemical oxidation changes some dissolved contaminants through reactions rather than physically removing solids.

Filtration removes particulates primarily by physically blocking them as water moves through a porous medium, with some particles also sticking to the media surfaces (adsorption) as they contact it. Large particles that are bigger than the pore openings are trapped by straining, while smaller suspended particles can be captured when they adsorb onto the media or are carried into spaces where they can’t pass through. This combination reduces solids and turbidity in the water.

Boiling water doesn’t remove particulates; it kills organisms and changes dissolved chemistry but doesn’t filter out solids. Sedimentation uses gravity to let particles settle out before or after filtration, but that’s a separate process from filtration itself. Chemical oxidation changes some dissolved contaminants through reactions rather than physically removing solids.