Behind the sharp thorns and unpretentious appearance, cactus is a plant that is very useful. One way to purify water, as is done by the people of Latin America since ancient times.In ancient times, the natives use the decoction of the leaves Mexican cactus to purify dirty river water before it is processed into drinking water. Soil particles and other debris that settles immediately mixed with cooked cactus.
Behavior of the Mexican population was then examined by Norma Alcantar, a biochemical engineer from the University of South Florida. Incidentally, Norma itself is a native of Mexican descent who inhabit Latin America.
"When boiled cactus, which came out the sap is mucilago thick and sticky like glue," said Norma, quoted by Discovery, Wednesday (18/08/2010).
For cacti, mucilago a protective barrier against the sun. This substance prevents the evaporation of water from the cactus, so this plant can survive in environments that lack of water like a desert.
When mixed with dirty water, mucilago composed of sugars and carbohydrates that bind the fine particles that pollute the water. Bond is then coagulates, making it easy to separate from the clean water.
She also examines how mucilago it clears the water of arsenic, harmful pollutants from industrial and agricultural wastes. Arsenic can cause cancer could also be bound by mucilago, a molecule large enough to be filtered by the sand.
Not only that, mucilago can also kill the bacteria that is one of the harmful pollutants in drinking water. Not yet known exactly how the mechanism, but Norma claims mucilago can produce a 98 percent water free of bacteria.
Based on these studies, Norma developed a water purification system that uses filters containing mucilago. Very economical because mucilago a leaf of fresh prickly pear cactus type (prickly pear cactus) is wide enough to purify water to meet the drinking needs of the family for 5 weeks.
Hopefully Helpful,,, :)
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