Paper Towel Strength

Conclusion:

I was able to conclude that my hypothesis was correct. After testing all of my products, Bounty was the strongest paper towel. No other paper towel brand came close to the weight Bounty was able to hold which was an average of 2,005 grams or about 4.4 pounds. The brand that came in second was Brawny which was only able to hold an average of 1,222.5 grams or about 2.7 pounds. The results of this experiment somewhat shocked me by how strong each paper towel. I thought they would be weaker than they actually performed. In order to make my experiment better in the future, I could try using different types of liquids or use a different way to hold the paper towel.

Abstract:

I wanted to test out which leading paper towel brand was actually the best. There are many commercials claiming that Bounty’s paper towel is stronger than the leading brand and so on. From experience, I think that Bounty brand paper towels will be the strongest. Bounty claims their paper towels are the strongest, so I thought it was time to put it to test.

The way I wanted to test the strength was by adding pennies in the center of the paper towel until the paper towel tore. The brands I used were Bounty, Brawny, Scott, and Wal-Mart store brand. I tested each paper towel 5 times each and found an average. I laid one of the paper towels on top of a food container and tapped it down. Then I poured 2 ounces of water in the center of the paper towel and began adding pennies one by one. Bounty turned out to be tricky since it didn’t break too easily. Wal-Mart Store Brand, on the other hand, broke fairly easily as shown on the data table. After the paper towel tore, I removed the paper towel and poured the pennies into a drain bowl to drain any leftover water, dried the bowl and then taped another paper towel on and repeated for each test.

The data showed that Bounty’s paper towel was in fact the strongest. The average amount of pennies it could hold was 802 pennies (2,005 grams). Wal-Mart’s store brand was only able to hold an average of 25 pennies (62.5 grams). That is nothing compared to Bounty. Brawny and Sparkle were relatively close and stayed in the middle with the averages of 489 pennies or 1,222.5 grams (Brawny) and 426 pennies or 1,065 grams (Sparkle).

I was able to conclude that my hypothesis was correct. Bounty actually surprised me being as strong as it showed. My experiment was fairly accurate considering I tested each paper towel multiple times. Some small variables could have affected this experiment such as the pennies being wet when retesting or accurately taping the paper towel down the same each time. If were to retest, I would probably use a different type of weight (i.e. washers, ½ lb weights, etc.) and try to control all variables.