•Are permanent markers
really permanent?
The purpose of my investigation is to determine if a permanent marker is
really permanent. This is important to know because if you were buying
a permanent marker you would want to know if the marker was really
worth the money.
I hypothesize that
the sharpie won`t
be as permanent
as you would
think. I believe
this because the
sharpie can come
off your hands
and sometimes
the walls with
special stuff.
Detergent
Scissors
15 5 cm x 5 cm fabric squares
1 marker (a - Sharpie)
1 marker (b - Caliber)
1 marker (c- Office Depot)
Dryer
Washer
Manipulate: Brand of markers
Responding: Percentage of ink left on the fabric
Constant: size of fabric, type ,(Purex),and amount of detergent,
method of washing and drying, method of marking fabric
1. Gather materials
2. Cut 15 5cm X 5cm fabric squares
3. Draw a letter A on one fabric square using brand A marker.
4. Draw a letter B on one fabric square using brand B marker.
5. Draw a letter C on one fabric square using brand C marker.
6. Place fabric squares A, B, and C in the washing machine. Add Purex
detergent and wash. When finished, place in dryer to dry.
7. Using the rating scale 1 to 5, rate each square for the amount of ink
still remaining with 1 being nothing remaining and 5 being all ink
remaining. Record score for each square.
8. Repeat steps 3 ~7 for 4 more trials.
9. Caculate the average score for each brand of marker.
INK REMOVAL RATE
BRAND
TRIAL 1
TRIAL 2
TRIAL 3
TRIAL 4
Sharpie
5
4
4
4
5
4.4
Caliber
3
4
2
2
3
2.8
Office Depot
2
2
3
4
3
2.8
Rating Scale: 1 = no ink remaining
TRIAL 5 AVERAGE
5 = all ink remaining
My hypothesis was correct. Permanent markers are not
fully permanent. The Sharpie left an average of 4.4 on
the fabric, based on the rating scale of 1 being no ink
remaining and 5 being all ink remaining. The Caliber
brand marker left 2.8 on the fabric. The Office Depot
brand left 2.8 on the fabric as well. If I had to do this
again I would use a pink or blue marker to see if my
results would change.