Paper Towel Lab
What you need (PICK 1):
• Paper/pencil
• New note in Notability
• New doc in Google Drive
• What are the steps of the scientific method?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Problem
Information
Hypothesis
Experiment
Results
Conclusion
Step 1: Question
• Does Bounty or Viva paper towels absorb
more water?
Step 2: Gather Information
• Take a look at these ads:
Step 2: Gather Information
• Let’s take some observations
– With your lab partner, come up with 3
OBSERVATIONS about each brand of paper towel
– Come up with a ROUGH hypothesis for which
towel you think is more absorbant
• If….then….because
– Be prepared to share!
Step 2: Gather Information
• Let’s watch some commercials
Step 3: Hypothesis
• Look at your rough hypothesis. Do you need
to revise it?
• Use this template if you get stuck:
– If I use Bounty or Viva paper towels to absorb
water, then the ____________ paper towel will
absorb more because _______________.
Step 3: Hypothesis
• Let’s dissect our hypothesis
– What is our independent variable?
• What are we consciously changing in our experiment?
– What is our dependent variable?
• What are we measuring?
Step 4: Experiment
• For this section, we need to come up with
materials and a procedure.
• With your partner, come up with a procedure
for how you can test the absorbency of the
towels
– Let’s rewatch the Bounty commercial for
inspiration
Step 4: Experiment
• Let’s do this together
– Keep in mind:
• Materials are a BULLETED list
• Procedures are in a NUMBERED list of command
statements for how to conduct the experiment
– NO I/We statements
• Recipe Example: Baked Ziti
Step 5: Results
• Data Table and Graph
Water Before
(mL)
Bounty Trial 1
Bounty Trial 2
Viva Trial 1
Viva Trial 2
Water After
(mL)
Water
Absorbed (mL)
Paper Towel
Bounty Trial 1
Bounty Trial 2
Viva Trial 1
Viva Trial 2
Mass Before
(g)
Mass after (g)
Mass
Absorbed (g)
• The graph is all you!!!
– Should you make a bar graph? Line graph? Pie
chart?
– Remember all of the components we have talked
about……relook at “How to Make a Perfect Graph”
if you need a refresher!
• You should have it as a paper copy AND it is found
online
• TWO data tables = TWO graphs
Step 6: Conclusion
• Answer the following questions on your own
and in paragraph form
1. What is the purpose of this experiment?
Mention both the IV and the DV
2. What are your means (average) for the mass and
water absorbed for each towel? What does this
indicate about your experiment?
3. What was the range for the mass and water
absorbed for each towel? What does this
indicate about your experiment?
4. What happened that you did not expect?
How can you explain this?
5. What about your experiment went exactly as
you expected? How can you explain this?
6. Does your data support your hypothesis?
– Do NOT just say yes/no. Use a complete
sentence such as “The data does or does not
support the hypothesis.”
7. Discuss possible explanations for your
findings, including any errors you might have
had.
8. What recommendations do you have for
improving this experiment? How can you
minimize errors?
9. What recommendations do you have for
further study?
Components of a Lab Report
• Organized into sections
I. Problem II. Hypothesis III. Materials IV.
Procedure V. Data- Table VI. Data AnalysisGraph VII. Conclusion
You should also include a meaningful title!
Paper Towel Lab
Expectations for Submission
• Must be typed OR neatly handwritten
• If TYPED (2 options)
– Print a paper copy
– Submit via Schoology
• If HANDWRITTEN
– Use blue/black ink
– Must be NEAT and easy to read