For Your Education - FYE Which One Absorbs more Water Folded or Flat Paper Towels? – For Your Education
You are here
Which One Absorbs more Water Folded or Flat Paper Towels? Featured 

Which One Absorbs more Water Folded or Flat Paper Towels?

 

Key concepts

Absorption
Paper
Water
Molecules

Introduction

We all know that washing hands throughout the day can help keep colds and flu at bay. So several times a day we lather up, scrub, rinse and then use a paper towel—then another one, maybe even three or four to dry them off. Because who wants wet hands?

But could there be a way to conserve some of that paper by getting a paper towel to go the extra mile, allowing you to dry your hands with just one single sheet? This activity just might help you find the answer.

Materials

Five or more identical paper towels—preferably the type in public restrooms (In case you would like to test different types of paper towels, choose at least five identical towels of each type. Do not worry about wasting a few towels—this activity might help save paper in the long run!)
Water
Place to hang a paper towel to drip
Kitchen scale, one-gram precision or better
Paper and pen or pencil (for recording weights)
A workspace that can get a little wet
Scissors to make towels smaller for small hands (optional)
Preparation
Assemble all of your materials at your workspace.

Procedure

Unfold the first paper towel (if you have the prefolded type). Wet it thoroughly and hang it so all of the excess water drips out.  When the towel no longer drips, weigh it on a kitchen scale. You can heap up the towel on the scale rather than neatly folding it. Record the mass on a piece of paper.  Fold an identical paper towel in three (if it was not already prefolded) and fold it one more time so six layers of towel are on top of one another. Wet it thoroughly and hang it—still folded—so all of the excess water drips out. Do you think this folded paper towel holds more, less or just as much water as the unfolded paper towel?

When the folded towel stops dripping, weigh it on a kitchen scale. Do not unfold it; place it on the scale then read and record its mass. Does it weigh more, less or exactly the same as the wet unfolded paper towel? If there is a difference, why do you think the mass is different? Now that you measured how much water the folded and unfolded paper towels can hold, and maybe found a difference, which do you think would dry your hands better? Place a fresh, unfolded paper towel and an identical fresh paper towel folded in three in a dry spot on your workspace.

Wet your hands, shake them three times to remove most of the water and then dry them off with the unfolded paper towel. Do your hands feel completely dry, somewhat dry or still quite wet?
Repeat wetting and shaking your hands. Try to shake your hands in the same way you did the first time then dry them with the folded paper towel. How do your hands feel now? Do they feel dryer, wetter or just as dry as when you used the unfolded paper towel?

If your hands feel very dry with both the folded and unfolded paper towels, try again with half a paper towel, as follows: Cut a paper towel in half and dry your hands with an unfolded half-towel and with a folded half-towel. Do you feel a difference now? How can your findings help you use fewer paper towels for the same job?

Extra: If you have more paper towels of the same type, repeat the tests; perform each step exactly the same way and notice the variations in the outcomes. Does the measured difference in mass vary a lot or just a bit? Is it always the folded or always the unfolded paper towel that weighs more? Do your hands always feel drier when using the folded or the unfolded paper towel? Scientists repeat tests to verify the outcome. Scientists also like to have their studies repeated by a different researcher utilizing different instrumentation (such as the scale). If the independent tests reveal the same results, the test is called reproducible. Such repeated tests by other experimenters have more scientific value. Can you find a friend to help you make your tests reproducible?

Extra: If you have different types of paper towels available, repeat the tests with them. Do you expect similar results? What did you find after testing them all?

Extra: Test other paper products that are used to absorb liquids, such as kitchen paper towels, toilet paper, paper napkins or tissues. Do these absorb more water when folded than when used single-layered? Which type of paper product gains most by folding? Can you explain why?

Observations and results

Did you measure a higher mass for the folded wet paper towel and did your hands feel drier when you used it? This is expected, as the tiny space between paper towel layers helps hold more water.  Paper is made of cellulose, which water molecules like to cling to. As a result, paper readily absorbs water. Paper towels are especially absorbent because their cellulose fibers have empty spaces—tiny air bubbles—between them.

Water molecules, which like to stay together, follow the one another as they are absorbed by the cellulose and fill the empty spaces. Layering the paper towel creates more spaces for water to fill, which explains why your layered paper towel could hold more water and was more efficient at drying your hands.
The next time you reach for the paper towels, remember to fold! You might feel good knowing you just saved an extra paper towel from being used.

 

courtesy of “Science Buddies”

Related posts

34 thoughts on “Which One Absorbs more Water Folded or Flat Paper Towels?

  1. admin

    Hi Kristen….thank you for your comment. As for corresponding, the best way to interact with us, other than our blog, is through Facebook. Here you can get almost immediate feedback and responses from us. Thank you for your loyalty to our site, and we look forward to continued interactions with you!

  2. Ernestine

    Great post however , I was eager to know if you could write a
    litte more on this subject? I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate a bit further.
    Thanks a lot!

  3. procerin

    Hi. I found your blog and this is an exceptionally well written article.
    I’ll bookmark it and return to read more of your helpful info.
    Thank you for the post. I’ll really keep
    coming back.

  4. wartrol

    I am typically to blogging and i actually like your articles.

    The article has actually got my interest. I am going to bookmark your site and also retain checking for fresh material.

  5. buy sytropin

    Very helpful information. Lucky me I came across your web site accidentally, I bookmarked it.

  6. taruhan bola

    I recently noticed your website. You’ve
    got a lots of information at this site that’s why i like
    it!

  7. Glenna

    I’ve been exploring for a little while for excellent articles or blog posts on this
    kind of area. Exploring in Yahoo I finally stumbled
    upon this site. Reading this info made me uncovered just what I needed.
    I will visit your website often.

  8. Hermine

    I really appreciate this post. I have been looking everywhere for this!
    Thank goodness I found it. You have made my day! Thanks once more.

  9. qweers

    You should be a part of a contest for one of the finest blogs on the internet.
    I am going to recommend this blog!

  10. Sherman

    Excellent post! We are linking to this particularly great post on ourr site.
    Keep up the good writing.

  11. Sibyl

    Great blog here! Also your site loads up fast!
    What host are you using?Can I get yoyr affiliate link to your host?
    I wish my website loaded uup as fast as yours
    lol

  12. Anonymous

    Keep on working, great job!

  13. Anonymous

    I like the valuable information you provide in your
    articles. I will bookmark your blog and check
    again here frequently. I’m quite sure I’ll learn many
    new stuff right here! Goood luck for the next!

  14. Anonymous

    Valuable information shared. I am happy to read this article.
    thanks for giving us good information. appreciate this post.

  15. marketing

    I truly enjoyed this. It was incredibly educational as well as useful.
    I will return to examine on upcoming posts.

  16. Anonymous

    Many thanks for this amazing post, I’m happy I found this web site on search
    engines.

  17. zeng fanzhi parcours

    Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to your blog before but after
    going through a few of the articles I realized it’s
    new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely delighted I found it and I’ll be book-marking it and checking
    back often!

  18. Van

    My partner and I stumbled over here coming
    from a different web page and thoght I should check things out.
    I like what I see so now i’m folowing you. Look forward tto exploring your
    web page for a second time.

  19. zeng fanzhi

    Howdy very cool web site!! Man .. Excellent ..
    Wonderful .. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds additionally?
    I’m happy to find numerous useful information right here in the publish,
    we want develop more strategies in this regard, thanks for sharing.

    . . . . .

  20. website

    Since the admin of this site is working, no question very soon it will be renowned, due to
    its quality contents.

  21. Kam

    Very good post! We will be linking to this particularly great article on our site.
    Keep up the good writing.

  22. forex trading

    Keeр working ,terrific job!

  23. 1

    My brother recommended I would possibly like this website.
    He was once totally right. This put up truly made my
    day. You cann’t consider just how so much time I
    had spent for this info! Thanks!

  24. auto

    What’s up colleagues, its wonderful paragraph regarding tutoringand fully defined, keep it up
    all the time.

  25. instagram

    It’s very trouble-free to find out any topic on net as compared to books, as I found this article at
    this site.

  26. Watch Movies Online

    Hi! I’ve been following your blog for some time now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you
    a shout out from Lubbock Tx! Just wanted to tell you keep up
    the good work!

  27. Google doodle

    You ought to be a part of a contest for one of the greatest sites online.

    I most certainly will highly recommend this site!

  28. Thanks for the auspicious writeup. It if truth be told was once a
    enjoyment account it. Look complex to far delivered agreeable from you!

    However, how can we communicate?

  29. web scraping through proxy

    Greetings I am so happy I found your weblog, I really found you by mistake, while I was looking on Aol for something else, Regardless I
    am here now and would just like to say thanks
    for a marvelous post and a all round interesting blog (I also love the theme/design),
    I don’t have time to browse it all at
    the minute but I have bookmarked it and also added your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the great jo.

  30. admin

    By all means! Share it with as many people as you want.

  31. Jeff Bezos

    Nice post. I was checking constantly this blog and I’m
    impressed! Very helpful information specifically the remaining
    part 🙂 I handle such info much. I was looking for this certain info for a very long time.

    Thank you and good luck.

Leave a Comment