Michael Viktrup

Title: Paper Towel Absorbency Lab Introduction: The purpose of the experiment was to answer the question, Can one paper towel of Bounty absorb more than one generic paper towel? A good paper towel is very absorbent and strong and is low in cost. The purpose of a paper towel is to clean up spills of liquid. Using an effective paper towel is important because it is to get the job done quickly and not waste strips. If Bounty is more absorbent, then Bounty absorbs more water than the generic paper towel. Materials and Methods: Materials: Methods: 1. Cut Bounty towel to same size as generic 2. Take one strip of each brand of paper towel 3. Fill graduated cylinder to 10mL, pour the water into the big glass bowel and sweep up the water with the bounty towel. Do the same for the generic. 4. Repeat step 3 , 2 more times 5. Take the three trials and add them up, then divide by three for the average of the trials 3 generic paper towels 3 Bounty paper towels Water 50 mL graduated cylinder Scissors Big glass bowl

Data: Data Table Amount of water left over Bounty Generic Trial #1 12mL 23mL Trial #2 10mL 24mL Trial #3 11mL 22mL Average: 11mL 23mL

Anaylsis: Experimental Group: Bounty and Generic Brand Control Group: Generic Brand Manipulated Variable: Amount of water left Responding Variable: Type of Paper Towel Constants: amount of water, paper towels, same size paper towels Trend of Results: Bounty absorbed more water than the generic brand

Conclusion: The original hypothesis was if Bounty is more absorbent, then Bounty absorbs more water than the generic paper towel. The hypothesis was accepted because, the average amount of water left over by Bounty was 11mL and the average amount of water left over for the generic brand was 23mL. Bounty was more absorbent than the generic brand because it had more air pockets for the water to travel into and the Bounty was stronger than the generic brand. An error in conducting the experiment was that the Bounty towel was bigger than the generic so it had to be cut to the generic brands size in order to make fair measurements.