SNC 2L Unit 1: Science in the Media Topic: Experiment #1: Product Testing SJHS Testing Absorbency of Different Brands of Paper Towel

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1 EXPERIMENT #1: Testing Absorbency of Different Brands of Paper Towel PURPOSE: (this is what the point or goal of an experiment is) to see which brand of paper towel is the most absorbent. HYPOTHESIS: (an educated guess as to what will happen in the experiment) I predict that the shop towel will hold the most water because it feels the most like cloth and the least like paper. Also the shop towel is intended to clean up big messes in an industrial setting and not a regular home or kitchen so it probably holds more liquid. MATERIALS: (the equipment and other materials you need to do the experiment) 5 different brands of paper towels: bounty green, shop brand, school brand, bounty regular, store brand. Water Funnel Graduated Cylinder (100mL) Beaker (300mL)

2 PROCEDURE: (the steps you took to perform the experiment) 1) Cut all your paper towels so that they are equal size samples. This helps to insure that it is a fair test. 2) Measure 100mL of water into a graduated cylinder Check it at eye level so you are accurate and not just seeing the meniscus. 3) Put 1 piece of your paper towel into the beaker. You may have to crumple it a little to do this. 4) Pour all 100mL of water over the paper towel into the beaker. 5) Time it for 1 minute 6) Put the funnel into the top of the graduated cylinder 7) Pour all of the contents of the beaker (both the paper towel and the remaining water) into the funnel. 8) Time it for 1 minute. 9) Remove the funnel and discard the paper towel. 10) Record the amount of water that is in the graduated cylinder in your observation chart. Remember to look at it at eye level to avoid the meniscus! 11) Calculate the amount of water that was absorbed by the paper towel sample. (this is the amount that is now missing from the graduated cylinder at the end) record 12) Repeat steps 2-11 for each of the different samples of paper towel.

3 OBSERVATIONS & RESULTS (a record of what you saw and what happened in the experiment) BRAND of PAPER TOWEL School Brand Shop Brand Bounty Green Store Brand: Costco Bounty Regular Volume of Water in Graduated Cylinder = Average: Total sum of all samples / number of samples =456.5 / 5 = Avg = Avg = Avg = Avg = 78.2 Volume of Water Collected by Paper Towel = 43.5 Average: = total sum of all samples / number of samples = 43.5 / 5 = Avg = Avg = Avg = Avg = 21.8

4 CONCLUSIONS: (a statement of what you determined from your experiment that rephrases your purpose. Then, a statement that supports the previous statement based directly on your results) Therefore or Based on the results Therefore, the brand of paper towel that was the most absorbent was the Regular Bounty brand. The Bounty Regular brand held 21.8mL of water which was the most of any of the samples tested. ANALYSIS: (questions that show that you know how to analyze your results and what they mean. Require that you interpret the data you collected) What did you observe? 1) Which graduated cylinder contained the most water? The graduated cylinder from the school paper towel trial contained the most water. (91.3mL) 2) Which graduated cylinder contained the least amount of water? The graduated cylinder from the Bounty Regular brand paper towel trial contained the least water. (78.2mL)

5 What did you discover? 3) Which brand of paper towel held the most water? The Regular Bounty brand held the most water based on all of the tests. (21.8mL) 4) Which brand of paper towel was the most absorbent? Explain how you know. The top brand of the 5 that we tested was the Regular Bounty brand. We know it was the most absorbent because it held the most water. We observed this because it had the highest number of ml absorbed. What can you infer? 5) If your observation chart was posted in a store as an advertisement, which brand would a shopper be most influenced to purchase and least likely to purchase. Use your data to explain why. A shopper would be most likely to purchase the Regular Bounty brand because it shows the best results in the absorbency test. Bounty brand held the most water. A shopper would be least likely to purchase the school brand of paper towel because it held the least amount of water. It shows the worst absorbency in the chart

6 What other factor(s) could effect a consumer s decision when buying paper towel in a store? Other factors that could influence the consumer s choice might be the cost of the different brands of paper towel or the quantity of sheets that come on a roll. or the strength/durability of the paper towel NEXT WEEK: You will test strength of the paper towel brands next week! This time, YOU are going to design a FAIR TEST. You will determine your own VARIABLES & CONTROL and create a REAL SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENT! Then you are going to perform your experiment and make a lab report that you will hand in.