Our Science Fair!

Our local homeschool group recently held a Science Fair and our kids participated in it. Their experiment?

The Laundry Experiment!
OBJECTIVE: To make and test three different homemade laundry detergents to see which one worked the best.

THE DETERGENTS:

Detergent #1 - Powder

Ingredients:
2/3 bar Fels Naptha Laundry Soap (equivalent of 1 cup grated)
½ Cup 20 Mule Team Borax
½ Cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda.
Container large enough to hold 2 cups of laundry detergent

Directions:
Grate the Fels Naptha laundry soap with a grater or use a food processor. Approximately 2/3 of a bar of soap will make 1 cup of grated soap.
Add the ½ cup of Borax and ½ cup of washing soda to the grated soap.
Shake and/or mix well

Use:
One tablespoon of detergent is sufficient per load of wash.

Yield:
The recipe yields 2 cups of laundry detergent. If you use 1 tablespoon per load, you will be able to wash 32 loads of clothes.

Total cost to make: $1.15 Yields 2 cups which translates to 3.5 cents per load.

Detergent #2 - Liquid

Ingredients:
3.1 oz bar Ivory soap (Ivory is chosen because it's all natural. You may use a soap of your choice) 1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
½ cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
Water

Tools:
5 Gallon container
Knife
Pot large enough to hold 5 cups of water
Long stirring stick/spoon (for 5 gallon container)

Instructions:
Shave the soap into small strips and place in the pot with 5 cups of water. Bring the water just shy of a boil and stir until the soap is completely melted. When the soap is just about melted, pour 3 gallons of hot water into the 5-gallon container and let it sit until the soap in the pot is totally melted. Once all of the soap shavings are melted, pour the mixture into the 5-gallon container and stir.

Once the soap and water are thoroughly stirred, add the ½ cup pf washing soda and stir until dissolved. Once the washing soda is dissolved, pour in the cup of borax and stir again until dissolved.

Now you've got a huge container of hot soapy looking water. Cover the container, place it somewhere out of the way and let it sit overnight. Once it's cooled it will gel. It will not gel uniformly so it will be lumpy and watery. It may not be very attractive, but it works. It's best find smaller storage containers for convenience.

Usage: ½ cup per laundry load is adequate to clean your clothes.

Yield:
This recipe yields 442 oz of laundry detergent, of which 4 oz are required per laundry load. With this recipe you should be able to wash 110 ½ loads of laundry.

Cost to make: .79

Detergent #3 - Liquid

Ingredients:
2/3 bar Fels Naptha soap
1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
½ cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
Water

Tools:
5 Gallon container
Knife
Pot large enough to hold 5 cups of water
Long stirring stick/spoon (for 5 gallon container)

Instructions:
Shave the soap into small strips and place in the pot with 5 cups of water. Bring the water just shy of a boil and stir until the soap is completely melted. When the soap is just about melted, pour 3 gallons of hot water into the 5-gallon container and let it sit until the soap in the pot is totally melted. Once all of the soap shavings are melted, pour the mixture into the 5-gallon container and stir.

Once the soap and water are thoroughly stirred, add the ½ cup pf washing soda and stir until dissolved. Once the washing soda is dissolved, pour in the cup of borax and stir again until dissolved.

Now you've got a huge container of hot soapy looking water. Cover the container, place it somewhere out of the way and let it sit overnight. Once it's cooled it will gel. It will not gel uniformly so it will be lumpy and watery. It may not be very attractive, but it works. It's best find smaller storage containers for convenience.

Usage: ½ cup per laundry load is adequate to clean your clothes.

Yield:
This recipe yields 442 oz of laundry detergent, of which 4 oz are required per laundry load. With this recipe you should be able to wash 110 ½ loads of laundry.
Cost to make: 1.29

Detergent #4 - Liquid
Same as Detergent #3, but we applied a store bought stain stick to the stains before washing.

THE EXPERIMENT:

First, we made the above detergents.

Next, we stained four identical white handkerchiefs with 4 stains:

mud
ketchup
chocolate icing
purple crayon

We also soaked 4 towels in water and let them soil over night for a "yucky" smell.

We washed one stained hanky and one soiled towel in each detergent on a "hot" setting in the washing machine.

THE RESULTS:

#1: Towel smelled cleaned. Medium mud stain still visible. Light ketchup stain still visible.

#2: Towel smelled clean. Medium mud stain still visible. Light ketchup stain still visible.

#3: Towel smelled clean. Light mud stain still visible.

#4: Towel Smelled clean. Light mud stain barely visible.

CONCLUSION:

Detergent 4 worked best.

THE DISPLAY:

INTERVIEWED BY JUDGES:
1ST PLACE RIBBON!!!

Well, they were the only team entered in their category...but hey, 1st place is 1st place. Pin It Now!