50 Shades of Denim

In this lab we asked the question if what concentration is best to fade jeans in ten minutes without damage. We found that 100% concentration faded out the blue denim color without any visible damage. In the swatches of 100% concentrate it was completely white except for the small corners where the fabric was sewn together and was tight. The other jeans were only light blue. Soaking the fabric in 100% bleach did not show any damage and adding water only makes the color less white. The closest shade of denim was the 50% concentrate which was a sky blue color. Bleach is widely known for removing color like in dying hair and being a disinfectant. This data supports our claim because 100% concentrate bleach lost the most color by a lot, proving that the more bleach you use, the more color it will take away.

While our hypothesis was supported by our data, there were slight errors in measurements of liquid. The concentration entirely could have been off because it does not have the right amount of water and bleach. This would make the color not accurate. Also, the time of soaking the fabric was not equally measured for each piece of fabric. if it was soaked for too long, the bleach would have made a certain color of fabric stronger or cause more damage to the fabric. To avoid these errors, one could be more precise in their measuring by taking their time and using small amounts to begin with instead of continually pouring out liquid. Someone could also use a more definite alarm clock instead of a stopwatch because the stopwatch relied on the to pay attention to the exact second to remove the fabric.

This lab was done to demonstrate that bleach can fade fabrics differently at different concentrations. From this lab I learned that precise amounts of bleach and water can significantly alter the color of denim which helps me understand the concept of chemistry and how small differences in amount of substance can change something to be entirely different colors, if it is a tiny ratio. This lab showed how strong bleach is at removing the color out from anything and how the concentration can affect fabrics considerately for the same duration of time. Based on my experience from this lab, I will learn from my errors and be more focused and thoughtful and also very careful with strong chemicals.

Concentration (% bleach)	Average Color Removal (scale 1-10)	Average Fabric Damage (scale 1-10)
100	10	0
50	9	0
25	6	0
12.5	3	0
0	0	0