Jean Lab Conclusion

    Jean Lab Conclusion

Ella Foster

In this lab we asked the question “What concentration of bleach is best to fade the color out of new denim material in 10 minutes without visible damage to the fabric?” We found that a combination of 50% bleach and 50% water faded the color out of the denim without damaging it. The 50% bleached denim showed a significant color fade with an overall average of 5.3 out of 10. The 50% also had good quality and didn’t show any visible damage with an average of 3.3 out of 10. Bleach changes the integrity of fabrics and is commonly used to remove stains from white clothing. Bleach is also a cleaning agent used to clean mold off of pavement, patios, and other surfaces. This data supports our claim because since bleach is such a strong substance, bleaching jeans with 100% bleach damages them. Therefore, a 50% concentration of bleach is the perfect amount of bleach to fade denim without damage.

    Our data contradicts the expected results because of the way we layered the denim while submerging them in bleach, didn’t accurately measure the graduated cylinders, and didn’t completely rinse the denim to stop the bleaching process. The petri dishes were not tall enough to completely submerge all three 5x5 pieces of denim and therefore the denim on the top of the pile of denim squares weren’t soaked in as much bleach as the other two. The effect of this was that when we averaged the three pieces of denim for quantitative data, one denim piece pulled down our average because it didn’t fade and damage as much as a result of it lying on top of the pile in the petri dish. The error of measuring the graduated cylinders was caused because we only had about an hour to do the experiment and we weren’t as careful as we could have been about measuring the bleach and water in the graduated cylinder accurately. This effected our experiment because it may have lowered or highered the amount of water and/or bleach in each petri dish, changing the results we received. Finally, we did not rinse the pieces of denim three times in water to completely stop the bleaching process as directed in the procedures because we ran out of time. Failing to fully rinse the pieces of denim altered the results of the experiment because our denim was exposed to the bleach longer than it should have been, making the jean material more damaged and color faded. Due to these errors, in future experiments I would recommend giving yourself more than an hour to correctly measure the liquids and fully rinse the jeans. I would also suggest to use three petri dishes per concentration of bleach to give each piece of denim its own dish.

    This lab was done to demonstrate the correct method to fade denim at home using bleach. From this lab I learned the intense staining power that the chemical substance of bleach has which helps me understand the dangers of overusing it on clothing and other surfaces prone to stain. Based on my experience from this lab I will always be cautious around bleach and if I ever wish to fade or clean my clothing I will take precautionary steps to not damage the material.

Concentration (% Bleach)	Average Color Removal (Scale 1-10)	Average Fabric Damage (Scale 1-10)
100	8.6	5
50	5.3	3.3
25	2.3	1.3
12.5	1.6	1
0	0	0

 Link To Acess from Google docs:


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Mr2Kbh2RY5EUV-LrRXFQ7Bxtz0NmuJpOXXcpAH16aPw/edit