[pachecos13]

Hello everyone!

I'm new here obviously, and I need a ton of help with my science project! My experiment design is due on Monday. I need help because a lot of the information is hard to find on the internet. If you can help me find it too, that'll be great!

So my fundamental science project question is: Can tide detergent (or bleach?) remove sharpie from clothes? Why or why not? How?

I talked to my chemistry teacher and she wants a lot more information on the chemical analysis/make up of the marker and detergent. She said my experiment is very elementary and doesn't have a lot of chemistry involved to make it more complex. On my first draft, I just put the fact that the marker is on the fabric and testing it with different detergents. It's basic I know. So do you think you can help me with adding more chemistry to my project?

Questions: Do you think I should use 3 types of fabrics or 1 type of fabric?
Do you think I should use detergent or bleach? If so, how many brands? One?
Can you help me with why the detergent/bleach removes the marker?
Can you help me with how it does this (deep into the chemistry; breaking bonds and such)?
Can you help me with the chemical analysis of the bleach/detergent?
Can you help me with the chemical analysis of the marker?
How do the chemicals/chemistry of the detergent affect each other so it cleans the mark?

BASICALLY, I just need to add more chemistry analysis into my project and figure out how many of each material (detergent/fabric) I should use. PLEASE HELP. I need answers by Sunday, January 18th.
THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH! REALLY!

[pachecos13]

Sorry I made an exclamation point 

[Dan]

Please read the Forum Rules.

No cross-posting

[CKabes]

You know what I would do,

Depending on your resources,
Bleach, which I believe is Sodium Hypochlorate (NaClO), can be tested (with your chemistry teacher) in a variety of different ways , but I'll let you find those on your own. Just be careful though, some tests can be dangerous (chlorine=yuck). Then once you have "proven" that tide bleach is a solution of Sodium Hypochlorate (if it is, I'm just assuming), do a little research on why the structure allows bleach to remove stains, and maybe even give some history of "Eau de Javel". That's what I would do.

...but I'm only 16 so,
Good Luck!

[Arkcon]

You can use only one fabric type, and only one detergent brand, and write your experiment plan around just using one.  Your conclusions will only reference one, and you can say at the end that you could do another experiment, with more detergents and fabric types, now that you have the basics of your technique down.  This is an acceptable way to plan experiments, even professionals don't try everything at one.

Or you can plan your experiment on multiple fabrics and detergents, with the intention of contrasting them.  It is really all up to you.

[fledarmus]

It's possible that your teacher was hinting that there might be a better way of removing the Sharpie ink than bleach. Did you actually look at the chemical makeup of a Sharpie and think about how it might be removed? Or just randomly think "Sharpie - bleach - hmmm, I wonder..."

You might want to look over this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpie_(marker) and see if it helps you expand your project a little. Maybe you could compare the effects of bleach to... oh, I don't know... acetone? Maybe some other commercial stain removers?

Your experiment should be designed to answer a question, or prove or disprove a hypothesis. "Does bleach remove Sharpie stains from a T-shirts?" isn't a very deep question. "What is the best stain remover to use on Sharpie stains on different fabrics?" Or "How do the chemicals in bleach react with a Sharpie stain?" would add more dimension to your project.