The Great Paper
Towel
Experiment
Introduction:
You are the new manager of an outdoor café in downtown Ambler. You are a very conscientious
manager and the ideas and cares of the wait staff matter to you - you want to keep everyone
happy. Two of the complaints that the wait-staff has voiced within the first month of you running
the café are (1) not getting paid well enough, and (2) the paper towels that are currently used are
horrible. They are saying that the paper towels they’re given to clean up spills are not absorbent,
and they just push the water around the table. Some of the customers have left your café
because they have had spills from the table pushed onto them by accident. You have a problem.
What can you do to fix it? Use the scientific method to figure out which paper towel will fix the
problem.
Objective:
From your local supermarket, you are going to purchase and test the different brands of paper
towels that they have on their shelves. You are also going to test the brand that you are using
currently and compare those results to those results of the store bought brands.
What you are looking for – which brand of paper towel is going to solve the wait-staff’s
complaint of poor absorbency? (What paper towel is going to absorb the most water?)
Our Instructions:
As a class, we are going to design an experiment to find out how much water can be absorbed by
different brands of paper towels. Once our general procedures are designed, you will work
through all of the steps of the experiment and hopefully discover an absorbent paper towel.
After each of the groups is finished, we will put all of the group’s results on the board. You are
to copy the class data for your results section.
You Only Need One Lab Report Per Group!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Part 1: Review of the Scientific Method
One of the reasons why we do this lab is to review and apply the steps of the scientific method.
So we need to make sure that we know the eight steps of the scientific method.
In the space provided, write down the seven steps of the scientific method.
1. ___________________________________
2. ___________________________________
3. ___________________________________
4. ___________________________________
5. ___________________________________
6. ___________________________________
7. ___________________________________
Part 2: Application of the Scientific Method
1. What is the “observation” of our experiment?
2. What is the question we are trying to answer or the problem we are trying to solve?
3. What is the definition of absorb?
4. What are ten things you know already about paper towels and absorbency?
5. What should be the independent variable for our experiment? (ie. What characteristic of
the paper towel do you think will affect water absorption the most?)
6. What is the dependent variable for our experiment?
7. What is an appropriate hypothesis for our experiment?

Hints for this section:
o Make sure that all of your scientific method “components” are relating to each
other.
 Does you hypothesis try to guess the answer to the question?
 Are the variables truly what you are testing?
Part 3: Creating The Experiment
We need to create and write out (numbered, step-by-step) what you plan on doing for your
experiment.
o remember:
 your experiment should attempt to answer the question or solve the problem
 this is to be a controlled experiment, so everything needs to be the same
except one thing
 BE SPECIFIC!!! Anyone who reads your procedure should be able to repeat
your experiment exactly
Part 4: Doing The Experiment
This is the part of the lab where you are going to be working within a small group. Follow the
procedures EXACTLY as we have written them out. Be as accurate as you can when measuring
your results. Record all of the information that you have collected in the appropriate data table.
Be ready to write down your results so that the class can use them as well.
Part 5: Recording Results
Paper Towel Brand
Starting Water Amount
(mL)
Ending Water Amount
(mL)
Amount Of Water
Absorbed
(mL)
Part 6: Drawing Conclusions
8. Collect all relevant data and record in table form.
9. Copy the class results from the board.
10. Create an appropriate graph displaying your results and the class results.
11. Develop a conclusion confirming or denying your hypothesis.
Include this page at the back of your lab report:
Components
Title page – Title, names, teacher’s name, due date, & class period
Steps of the Scientific Method:
 Observation (#1)
 Question is stated (#2)
 Directed Research / Prior Knowledge –
- Provide definition of absorb (#3)
- Ten things you know about paper towels (#4)
 Hypothesis –
- What is the independent variable (#5)
- What is the dependent variable (#6)
- Stated as an if…then… statement (#7)
 Experiment (#8)
Lab Report:
 Purpose of the lab
 Materials – list everything you used in your experiment
 Methods/Procedure – as a numbered list of steps, describe in detail
exactly what you did
 Results – your own personal results as a table and a graph and the
class results as a table and a graph
 Discussion - Compare the results you got verses the results of the class. Were
there differences? If there were, what are some possible
explanations (list 2)?
- Describe at least three possible sources of error that could have
altered your results. What would you do differently to make things
more accurate?
- If we were to do more tests on these same paper towel brands,
what would be some other valuable experiments that could
persuade us to buy them for our restaurant?
 Conclusion – Did the experiment support or go against your
hypothesis? Was a connection made between the independent and
dependent variable?
Underline and bold face each section heading  18 point font
Typed  12 point font
Neat and organized
Total Points
Pts. Earned
Pts. Worth
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
10
8
2
3
2
2
2
2
2
55