Cleaning Power of Detergents

WHICH LAUNDRY DETERGENT WORKS THE BEST IN DIFFERENT WATER TEMPERATURES?

Question

Will there be a bigger impact if I use the same detergents and stains but in two different temperatures of water?

Hypothesis

I got five cotton shirts and I am going to test laundry detergent to see which one will remove the stains the best. I think that the chocolate and ketchup are going to cause the most damage. I think that the grease and the soda will do the least amount of damage.I think the oxiclean is going to clean the stains the least. The oxiclean sounds like the oldest laundry detergent and it might not have the same power as the newer ones.

Procedure

1.I am going to be getting 5 different laundry detergents (purex,tide,gain,oxi clean, and all)

2.Get the same material for each test (cotton)

3.Make the same type of stain on each piece of material (1ml). The stains will consist of grease,coca cola , ketchup, dark chocolate and barbecue sauce.

4. I will let the stains dry for 20 minutes before I put them in the washer.

5.Use the same amount of detergent for each time I wash it.

6.I will put them in a large container and shake them around for 2:31 minutes.

7.I will test the detergents for each of the 5 stains.

8.I will let it air dry after I washed it.

9.Whichever detergent has the best result I will rate (1- which one worked the best) to(5-the worst ;one that did the least).

For my science fair experiment I decided to test which laundry detergent works the best. I chose this experiment because my mom is constantly trying to find a great laundry detergent that works the best for her. I wanted to end the search for the perfect laundry detergent and decided I should test different detergents to see which one is the best fit for us. To add on to the consistency, I tested them twice but in different temperature waters to see if there was a bigger impact. My hypothesis was that the tide would work the best because it is very popular and almost everyone I know uses Tide. I thought that the Oxiclean would work the worst because not a lot of people I know use it.

What I did for my experiment was test 5 different laundry detergents against two different climates of water. My detergents where Tide,Purex,Gain,Oxiclean and All. My stains where Heinz ketchup, Nathan's own barbecue sauce, bacon grease, chocolate syrup and coca cola. I put the stains on a cotton shirt and washed it in a large plastic container. I did this for every detergent in different climates of water. My two climates where 66 degree fahrenheit water and 110 degree fahrenheit water. I compared all of the shirts to the two different temperatures of water.

I finished my project and I got my results. Strangely the Oxiclean worked the best in the room temperature water and the purex worked the worst in the room temperature water. I know this because I compared the shirts to each other and the oxiclean got rid of the most stains. In the hot water the Gain and All worked the best but the Oxiclean worked the worst in hot water. I know this because compared to the other detergents in the hot water the Gain and All had the least amount of stains and the Oxiclean stains were all still there. The easiest stain I would say is the coke because in mostly every detergent, the coke was gone completely. The hardest stain to remove was the ketchup. None of the detergents got the ketchup out completely in both temperatures of water.

No my hypothesis was not correct because I thought the tide would be the best and it turned out not to. I was also wrong because I stated that the Oxiclean would work the worst but it turned out to be the room temperature water because all of the stains,besides the ketchup, where gone completely. In hot water the Gain and All where the two best detergents because they both did the same amount of cleaning. To complete my hypothesis, another reason I was wrong was because I said that the chocolate and ketchup where going to be the worst stains but the ketchup was the worst. I also stated that the grease and coke would come out the easiest and I was correct the coke because the stains were all gone for the coke. All in all what I learned about this experiment is that you shouldn’t always judge something on its age, it could have some great power like the oxiclean. I believe that my experiment was accurate because I tested everything very consistently and followed the steps I was supposed to. If if could redo this experiment I would improve it by shaking the container for a little bit longer instead of 2:31 minutes.

Data Table!

Conclusion

In conclusion, the best stain for cold water was the Oxiclean because most of the stains were completely gone. The best stain for Hot water was Gain and All because they got out most of the stains besides the grease. The hardest stain to remove was the grease because none of the detergents got it out completely. The easiest stain to get out would definitely be the coke because every detergent got the stain out completely. If I was to wash my clothes then I would use the oxi clean in cold water. If I was to wash my other clothes in hot water, then I would definitely recommend the Gain and All. Not only have I learned about the science behind laundry detergents, I think my mom will appreciate this experiment too! Now that I know which detergent works the best, I hope this helped you too.

My science fair board!

I used the science fair website for my project!