Jean Lab Conclusion

   In this lab, we asked the question of what concentration of bleach it would take to best fade out the color of denim material in 10 minutes without visible damage to the fabric. We found that the 100% bleach solution faded out the color best, although it did cause some minor damage. This damage to the fabric only caused the edges of the denim squares to fray. The color removal was not blotchy, but it faded the denim to a soft, light, blue color. Our average ranking for the color removal of this concentration was a 9/10. The ranking for fabric damage was considerably higher than the others, a 6.6/10, but it made up for the color removal. Bleach, a chemical compound, is also known as sodium hypochlorite. It stains or lightens fabric through the process of oxidation, where it removes pigment. This data supports our claim because the procedure we followed resulted in the idea that a full bleach solution can lighten denim material with minimal damage in only 10 minutes.
   While our hypothesis was supported by our data, there could have been errors due to the misuse of materials. Our group took some extra time because we only used 2 beakers and made separate solutions, rather than using 5 beakers for each. This could have affected the experiment by making the solution measurements inaccurate due to not washing the beaker thoroughly each time. Also, the rankings might have been a little imprecise because some of the denim was already a slightly lighter than the rest. Fortunately, there was little effect to those denim squares as altogether. Due to these errors, in future experiments I would recommend preparing our lab materials with awareness.
   This lab was done to demonstrate a basic understanding of lab procedures and etiquette in class. The procedure could improve by giving more detailed instructions in the Jean Lab packet, to avoid mistakes like ours.  From this lab I learned that pigment extracting fluids, such as bleach is a positive control that shows results, whilst water, a negative control, makes a solution of the concentration a lot weaker. I could clearly see the qualitative results on the denim, while I properly used quantitative data in a table, and I was able to analyze it easily. Based on my experience from this lab, I strongly believe that I have a clear idea on how to execute a lab, and what the environment is like when running labs in the classroom.

Sources: 
Brennan, Carol, "bleach." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009, T., and "bleach." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. "Bleach." Encyclopedia.com. HighBeam Research, 01 Jan. 1996. Web. 05 Sept. 2016. <http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Bleach.aspx>.

Data table displaying results. 

Results of bleached denim.