The Magic Eraser

Question How permanent are permanent markers?

Purpose The purpose of this investigation is to determine if a permanent marker is in fact permanent. If some one buys a permanent marker, their going to want it to be permanent.

Hypothesis We hypothesize that permanent markers are not always permanent. We believe this because our teacher wrote something on her hand using permanent marker, and it came off in the shower.

Procedure

Materials Permanent marker 4 tweezers 5 plastic containers liters of water, all purpose cleaner, rubbing alcohol, and vinegar scissors tee-shirt tray 20 fabric squares

Following materials 10. Pencils to write with. 11.Folder. 12.work papers.

Variables Responding/Dependent: how much permanent marker is removed Manipulated/Independent: Solvent Constant: How much liquid is put into the cups, size or the squares, permanent marker drawn on the squares, method of rating

Directions 1. Draw a quarter sized circle on each piece of fabric square. Repeat for the remaining 19 pieces. 2. Color in each circle using permanent markers. 3. Fill one cup with liters of water. 4. Fill one cup with liters of vinegar. 5. Fill one cup with liters of all purpose cleaner. 6. Fill one cup with liters of rubbing alcohol. 7. Place one fabric square in each cup.

Following directions 8. Let soak for 24 hours. 9. Remove fabric from cups. 10. Rate the amount of stain left on each fabric square using the rating scale 0 to 10 with 0 from being no stain left and 10 being the stain completely removed. 11. Repeat steps 2-10 for 4 more trials.

Conclusion Our hypothesis was correct. Permanent markers are not always permanent. The average removal rate for water was 1.0, all purpose cleaner was 5.0, and vinegar 3.8. The rubbing alcohol removed the most marker with a rate of 7.4. We think that we should not change the marker color next time because, we think that some of the color affected the removal of the permanent marker ink.