Jean Lab
In this experiment we were investigating what concentration of bleach is best to fade the color out of new jeans in 10 minutes without visible damage to the fabric. We found that the 50% bleach/water solution was the best. Our qualitative observations show that this solution faded the jeans considerably without making any holes or fraying the fabric. Pure bleach is supposed to make fabric holey and have a strong whitening effect, and water has no effect on the fabric. By balancing the bleach with the water, we lowered its damaging effects on the jeans.
While our hypothesis was supported by our data, there could have been errors due to clumsiness by a team member, who accidentally spilled some of the solutions inside the petri dishes, leading to even more spills, which delayed our experiment considerably and made our results slightly inaccurate. This is because the bleach/water solutions were mixed, changing the concentrations. Due to these errors, in future experiments I would recommend handling liquids more carefully, and being better prepared for the next step of the procedure, as not being ready slowed us down a lot.
This experiment was done to demonstrate the implications of bleach on jeans. The pure bleach damaged the jeans severely whereas the 12.5% concentration barely did anything. With this knowledge I can properly bleach stains in my soccer uniform without making any holes. From this experiment I learned the full effect of bleach, which helps me to understand the concept of bleach’s strength. Based on my experience from this lab, l can definitely use bleach on clothing stains and carpet stains without ruining them!
Concentration (% bleach)
|
Average color removal (scale 1-10)
|
Average Fabric Damage (scale 1-10)
|
100
|
10
|
5
|
50
|
8
|
2
|
25
|
5
|
1
|
12.5
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
