Can you imagine living in a world without clean drinking water? Well, for some people, this is their reality. This is why Dean Kamen designed the Slingshot, a water purifier, to help people in Africa and Latin America. It is very important to get these countries clean water. According to The World Health Organization, about 4.3 million people die from dirty water each year and there are 780 million people that can’t obtain clean water. The water the people in these countries drink is filled with bacteria and disease. Some diseases can be, Guinea Worms Disease, Typhoid, and Dysentery. Some towns even share their water source with cattle. If Kamen gets them clean water, it will save many humans and animals.
How it works
The Slingshot is made out of the bed of a Chevy truck and can produce clean drinking water from seawater, poisoned wells, river sludge, sewage, chemical waste, basically anything, and make it new clean water. It doesn’t use filters or chemicals. It doesn't take a lot of energy, it’s fairly small, and it can purify over 250,000 liters per year, that’s helping roughly 300 people. It just takes the dirty, unusable water, heats it up, evaporates it, then it rains down, and gets collected before it hits the ground again. Although, there are some negatives. In these countries in doesn't always rain and they could easily go into a drought. If there is no water to collect, there is no way to get water clean. Also, even if there is water, you have to carry the water to it or carry the purifier over to the water source, and it is heavy. Lastly, some of the parts inside of it could break and need to be replaced which would cost money. After 10 years of development, this was put into trial in Ghana and a few other countries in that area.
About Dean Kamen
This is not the first Kamen invention. He has always been creative and hardworking. As he got older he wanted to make his inventions help people in need. Some other innovations are, the iBot- an advanced mobility system, LUKE Arm- a prosthetic arm that moves in multiple places, and Dialysis- an at home treatment for people with end stage renal disease. He knows that if he gets people clean water, he can save more than half the world's population. He is now working with Coca-Cola on this project hoping that his ideas and their worldwide influence, will be enough for this to work.
Dean is the founder and CEO of DEKA. His company is based out of Manchester, New Hampshire, and has been around since 1982. There are hundreds of trained professionals working here to develop life changing innovations. This is one of the best research and development companies in the country and many world changing inventions have been thought up and developed here.
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a period of many inventions. One being, the Flush Toilet. Before the Flush Toilet, people used, holes in the ground, chamber-pots, and outhouses. Both the Slingshot and the Flush Toilet solve water problems. The Slingshot, takes dirty water and purifies it. The Flush Toilet, created a way to manage waste water. Without the Slingshot, the water stays dirty and unsafe. Without Flush Toilets, the waste would get in the drinking water bringing bacteria with it. These inventions both help to prevent the spread of disease for millions of people.
MLA Citations
“About Us.” DEKA, www.dekaresearch.com/about-deka/.
Barksdale, Nate. “Who invented the flush toilet?” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 19 May 2015, www.history.com/news/ask-history/who-invented-the-flush-toilet.
“Flush Toilet.” Inventions and Innovations of the Renaissance, codyreynolds82.weebly.com/flush-toilet.html.
Foster, Tom. “Pure Genius: How Dean Kamen's Invention Could Bring Clean Water To Millions.” Popular Science, 16 June 2014, www.popsci.com/article/science/pure-genius-how-dean-kamens-invention-could-bring-clean-water-millions.
Morris, Chris. “11 inventions that could change the world.” CNBC, CNBC, 14 June 2014, www.cnbc.com/2014/06/11/11-inventions-that-could-change-the-world.html?slide=8.
Nasr, Susan L. “How the Slingshot Water Purifier Works.” HowStuffWorks Science, HowStuffWorks, 27 July 2009, science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-tech/remediation/slingshot-water-purifier.htm.
“SlingShot focuses on inventor Dean Kamen and his 15-Year quest to solve the world’s safe water crisis.” SlingShot, www.slingshotdoc.com/.
This is really good, it's awesome to see how people are trying to better the lives of those in poor countries. My one criticism is that the title is a bit weird. Maybe have something like; "The Slingshot, a new Water Purifier..." or something similar. Also, what could the slingshot change about countries like ours?
ReplyDeleteThe slingshot wouldn't make a big impact on countries like ours. It could help in dryer places like Arizona and it could also save some money. It would make the biggest impact on countries like Africa because it's super dry and there isn't as much money to spend.
DeleteHow much does the slingshot cost to make? Do you think that eventually it will completely solve the world's dirty water issue?
ReplyDeleteI am not exactly sure how much it costs to make. Although, I do know that they cost about $1,000-$2,000 (if there is already electricity) to buy. I do believe that the Slingshot could eventually solve the world's water crisis, because it saves so many lives, they are easy to maintain, they are getting more popular as more people hear about them, and as technology develops more over time, the issues will be fixed.
DeleteYou say that about 4.3 million people die from dirty water each year and there are 780 million people that can’t obtain clean water. Do you think one day in the future these slingshots will be able to help everyone around the world who can't obtain clean water? And if they can how much would they cost people?
ReplyDeleteYes, I do believe that one day this will be possible. the Slingshot has been getting more popular and as they are being tested the updates needed will be fixed. Once the technology is as best as it can be, there will most likely be more in more countries to clean everyone's water. Each machine costs around $1,000-$2,000. Depending on how many people are sharing each one and if there is already electricity or not, the splitting cost would be different.
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