In this lab we asked the question “What concentration of bleach is best to fade the color of new denim material in 10 minutes without visible damage to the fabric?” The hypothesis I wrote based off of the assumption that bleach makes color fade was “If bleach makes colored fade, then using bleach on jeans will give them a faded look.” We found that the 50% bleach concentration faded the jeans the best without much damage to the fabric because it didn’t make the denim too light and didn’t damage the fabric too much. The color for the 100% bleach concentration turned almost a yellow color, was way too light, and the average color removal was two points higher than the 50% color removal average. The 25% bleach concentration solution didn’t change the color of the denim much. Based off of prior information that bleach removes color and damages fabric with the higher concentration of bleach, 100% bleach concentration probably wouldn’t have worked very well because the fabric would be damaged, but 50% bleach concentration would’ve faded the color and not damaged the denim too much.
While our hypothesis was supported by our data that 50% bleach concentration would fade denim jeans without damaging the fabric, there could have been errors due to measuring the solutions and the time that the fabric spent in the solutions. Since we probably did not measure everything to exactly the right amount, such as 7.5 ml of bleach with 32.5 ml of water, some of the solutions could’ve been wrong because of measurements that could’ve been done incorrectly. The time that the denim squares spent in the solutions were probably different for each solution because we could not take out all the squares at exactly the same time. Some squares could’ve spent more than two minutes in the solution and some squares could’ve spent less than two minutes in the solution. Due to these errors, in future experiments I would recommend that we have everybody take out all the squares at exactly the same time and we take time to carefully measure all the solutions by making sure that everybody measures the meniscus.
To conclude, although this lab was to find out what concentration of bleach would fade the color of denim with the least amount of damage to the fabric, it was really to demonstrate how the scientific method can be used to solve everyday problems. From this lab I learned how to conduct an experiment using the scientific method which helps me understand the concept of the scientific method and how to use it. We use the scientific method in class and we will continue to use it for long time. Based on my experience from this lab, I would use a 50% bleach concentration solution if I needed to bleach something without damaging it too much. To give more accurate results in this lab, the procedure could be improved to instruct students to take out all the squares at the same exact time and to carefully measure the bleach and water.
Concentration
(% bleach)
|
Average Color Removal
(Scale 1-10)
|
Average Fabric Damage
(Scale 1-10)
|
100
|
9.66
|
2
|
50
|
7.33
|
1.66
|
25
|
6.66
|
0
|
12.5
|
2.66
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
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