Jean Lab

          The question for this lab was, "What concentration of bleach is best to fade the color out of new denim material in 10 minutes without visible damage to the fabric?" We found that different concentrations of bleach had different effects on the denim. We tested with 100%, 50%, 25%, 12.5%, and 0% concentrations of bleach and we noticed that the higher the concentration, the higher the color change. In our experiment, we found that the 100% concentration did the most to fade out the color off of the jeans and surprisingly, it didn't do any visible damage to our material. In fact, none of the concentrations damaged the denim. I thought that the 50% concentration made the jeans look the best out of the other concentrations. The average rating out of 10 for color change was about 5, while the average rating out of 10 for fabric damage was 0. I feel 5 out of 10 looks the best because the 100% concentration gave a rating of about 6.5, which was too light, the 25% gave a rating of about 5.5 which was also too light, the 12.5% gave a rating of about 3, which was too dark, and the 0% gave a rating of 0 which was also too dark. I think that the 50% concentration gave a rating that was not too dark or too light.
          While our hypothesis was supported by our data, there could have been errors due to many factors. One error could be that we could have used different fabric from different pairs of jeans to do the experiment. These errors could have affected the results by making them invalid, since there are too many variables being changed. In a well thought out experiment, there should only be one thing that should be changed and that is the independent variable, or the thing that we are testing. Due to this error, I would recommend that you use denim material from the same source to have a constant constant. Another error that could have happened is pouring the wrong concentrations of bleach onto the jean squares. This could have affected the results by making the results for let's say 25% concentration wrong, because the concentration is not actually 25% but could be more or less than that. Due this error, I would recommend that you carefully measure out the bleach and the water.
         This experiment was done to demonstrate the scientific method, and it taught us how to use it in a real life situation. From this lab, I learned about the effects of bleach on jeans which helps me understand the concept of the scientific method. Based on my experience from this lab, I could use the scientific method to conduct other experiments and to answer scientific questions or problems. The experiment went well and the procedure could be improved if everything was measured exactly, if everything was timed more  precisely, or if everything was controlled to be exactly the same except the independent variable. This lab was important in understanding biological concepts by teaching us about the scientific method so that we can use it later when we do other experiments involving biology.