The Magic Eraser

Question

How permanent are permanent markers ?

PURPOSE

The purpose of this investigation is to determine how permanent are permanent markers . This is impotent to know because if your toddler scribbles on the wall you need to get it off quickly. If people buy permanent markers they ‘re probably going to want the markers 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 markers (thin) – colors purple, red, green, and black• Tweezers • Five plastic containers • 1,125 mLs of water, vinegar, all purpose cleaner, and rubbing alcohol • Scissors (big ones) • T– shirt (never been used)• tray • Fabric squares (from t- shirt)• Pencils to write with • Tape

Variables Manipulated / independent: solvent

Responding /dependent: How much permanent marker is removed

Constant: How much liquid is put into the cups, size of the squares, size of permanent marker drawn on the square, and method of rating.

Direction 1. Draw a quarter sized circle on each piece fabric square.

Repeat for the remaining 19 pieces. 2. Color in each circle using a permanent marker. 3. Fill one cup with 525 ml of water. Label cup water with tape.

4. Fill one cup with 525 ml of vinegar. Label cup vinegar with

tape. 5.Fill one cup with 525 ml of all purpose cleaner. Label cup all

purpose cleaner with tape.

More Directions 6. Fill one cup with 525 ml of rubbing alcohol7. Place one fabric square in each cup.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 being no stain removed and 10 being stain completely removed . 11. Repeat steps 2-10 for 4 more times.

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