Data and Analysis

We noticed that, for both the flame and water test, the averages of the cloth masks were much higher than the averages for the surgical mask. According to the data for the liquid test, the cloth mask absorbed the liquid six out of eight times, while the surgical mask absorbed the liquid only two out of eight times. This means that the surgical mask is water-resistant, which would be very effective against the virus. This would make our hypothesis correct because according to the data, cloth masks are most likely to absorb liquid, which means it'll likely absorb respiratory droplets instead of repelling them. As for the candle test, when wearing the cloth mask, the flame was blown out 6 out of 8 times, but while wearing the surgical mask it was blown out once out of the 8 trials.