Name ________________________________________________ Class _____ Date ____________
Name of partner ________________________________________________________________
Run an experiment to determine which paper towel is best!
A. Introduction to the paper towel lab
Congratulations, you are the new Taco Bell manager. The kitchen staff has been complaining about
the paper towels currently in the kitchen. The procedures manual for the Taco Bell chain says you are
allowed to choose from among four national brands of paper towels. However, to make this change,
you must provide the Taco Bell management the evidence that supports your decision. That means
you must PROVE which brand of paper towels is best before you can change to that paper towel.
B. Introduction to this experiment
You must test the following characteristics of the towels:
1. Absorbency- How much of a spill will the paper towel pick up.
2. Wet strength- How much force can be applied to a wet paper towel before it rips.
3. Value- Based on the price of the paper towels, determine which brand is the best buy
(or the best value) for your Taco Bell.
C. Directions
First Assignment: Design and run an experiment that will test which of the four brands of
paper towels is best for the characteristic, absorbency.
The experiments will contain the following parts:
QuestionHypothesisMaterialsProcedureObservationsAnalysisConclusionEach person will have their own lab report.
Before you finalize your procedure, you should do some dry runs. That is make sure your procedure tells you
exactly what to do by gathering some materials and try it out. THE TEACHER MUST SEE YOUR DRAFT
PROCEDURE BEFORE YOU DO THIS!
Before you may begin, you must show the teacher the Question, Hypothesis, Materials, Observation table.
D. IDENTIFYING the “problem” or “question”
Every scientific investigation begins with a “problem” or a “question” that the investigator is trying to solve.
What is the problem/question you are trying to solve? Hint: look over the Introduction AND the procedure.
Draft your problem/question here to review with the teacher:
QUESTION: Write your final “question” here:
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HYPOTHESIS: Now that you have a question, write an answer to the question. This is your “hypothesis”.
Write the hypothesis as an “If…. than…because…” statement.
Draft your hypothesis here to review with the teacher:
Write your final “hypothesis” here:
If ______________________________________________________________________________________
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than ___________________________________________________________________________________
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because ________________________________________________________________________________
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MATERIALS: List the things you will need to run this experiment here:
PROCEDURE: Now that you have written the question you want to solve and your best answer to
that question in the hypothesis, you need to develop your experimental procedure. The procedure
contains the numbered steps you will follow to perform the experiment. Please note: All
procedures must have a safety step.
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OBSERVATIONS: Look at your procedure and determine what “observations” you will record
during the experiment. The observations become your data. How will you keep track of the data?
Tables are neat and effective.
ANALYSIS: Now that you have your data (observations) you need to analyze your results.
CONCLUSION: Now you look at the data in your analysis and draw a “conclusion”.
Name _________________________________________ Period ______ Date _______________
Follow-up to Paper Towel Lab for Absorbency
1. Clearly explain your technique for proving absorbency of several paper towels.
2. An experimental procedure is written so that each step will be repeated exactly the same for all the
materials being tested. Which part of your procedure would change the results of your experiment if
done differently for each paper towel tested?
3. What was the independent variable in your experiment?
4. What was the dependent variable?
5. What parts of the experiment did you control? (make exactly the same each time)
6. What would you do differently in your experiment if you ran it again?
Name _________________________________________ Period ______ Date _______________
Cost Analysis of Paper Towels
1. Cost for Brand 1 =
2. Cost for Brand 2 =
3. Cost for Brand 3 =
4. Cost for Brand 4 =
5. Which brand you would buy? Explain your reasoning.
6. You found that the paper towels absorb differently. We will call this the “clean-up factor”. Record
how much differently each paper towel absorbs when compared to Brand 1 (the brand used at Taco
Bell).
Brand 2=
Brand 3=
Brand 4=
7. If a spill takes Brand one, 100 towels to clean up, figure out how many towels it will take the others
to clean up the same spill. An example for Brand 2 is done for you:
Brand 2 = 100 towels for brand 1/ clean-up factor brand 2 = # towels it takes brand 2 to clean up
spill
Write the problem out and do the math here:
Brand 3 =
Brand 4 =
8. Now you will figure out the cost to clean up the same spill. (It takes brand one 100 towels to clean up
the spill) Use the costs form number 1. Brand 1 is done for you:
Brand 1 = ( $$ / # towels per roll) X 100 towels =
Write the problem out and do the math here:
Brand 2 =
( $$ / # towels per roll) X ( # towels from question 7) =
Brand 3 =
( $$ / # towels per roll) X ( # towels from question 7) =
Brand 4 =
( $$ / # towels per roll) X ( # towels from question 7) =
9. Now evaluate your costs and describe which paper towel is your best choice.
10. Explain why you chose that paper towel.
11. Is that paper towel different than what you chose after checking absorbency?