Introduction

I got interested in doing this project when my Dad came back from Saskatoon and told me about a plant called Saponaria (Prairie Carnation).  The seeds from this plant make a chemical called saponin. These chemicals have been used as cleaners (like soap) for thousands of years. 

That got me interested in how molecules can clean things. 

I decided to do this science project on cleaners and how they work.

Each stain was made on a piece of 100% cotton (natural fibre) cloth.

My Hypothesis is

My hypothesis is that I believe that the synthetic detergents will clean all the stains the best.

Discussion and Conclusions

I think the experiment went pretty well.  The hardest stain to remove was the red wine and the easiest was the oil.  Both the synthetic detergent and the plain soap cleaned the best in my test.  See the graphs on the next page.

Maybe the soap was as good as the synthetic detergent in my test because our Calgary water is pretty soft and soap works beat in soft water.  Saponins worked the next best and they worked as well as the synthetic detergent on oil, coffee and chocolate, but not as well on the wine.

I think that I would use plain soap as a cleaner in Calgary for most things as it is better for the environment and made for renewable things.

In designing my experiment at school we were asked to think of three sub-questions we wanted to answer with our experiment.  I have written these below.

Sub Question One: What makes a better cleaner soap, Synthetic detergent or saponin?

From my tests soap was as good as the synthetic detergent and saponins were almost as good except for the wine.

Sub Question Two: Which one cleans a dirty cloth better?

That depended on what the cloth was stained with and it is best to look at the graph to see which was better.

Sub Question Three: Which one is better for the environment?

Soap is the best for the environment because it is made from natural materials and is biodegradable?

FINAL CONCLUSIONS

I compared four detergents on four different stains and found that plain soap was as good a cleaner as synthetic detergent.  My hypothesis was wrong and because of this I would rather use regular soap to clean my cloths as it is more biodegradable and made from renewable materials.