Crying over Spilled Water

Overview

Most individuals interact with water and paper on a day-to-day basis. So people often have a chance of spilling water on papers. The goal of this project is to design a cheap piece of paper that, when it comes in contact with water, would not be changed in any way. The paper should also take less than 48 hours to make, be made with materials available to anyone, and be able to be written on after it has become waterproof. Three prototypes were designed. Each one was subject to two tests. The first test involved pouring water on each prototype, and measuring to see how much water was absorbed. The second test involved submerging each prototype completely underwater, to see if there were any gaps in the waterproof coating. Results were documented and compared. The first and second designs, during the first test, absorbed all water. During the second test, both absorbed as much water as regular paper did. The third design absorbed almost no water during both tests, but could not be written on. The fourth and final design succeeded. It met all the success criteria and constraints. The results support the hypothesis that coconut oil forms a waterproof coating over paper. The third and fourth designs had only coconut oil, and coatings were formed over both prototypes, causing almost no water to be absorbed. The first and second designs, which also included alcohol in the mixture, failed to have waterproof coatings.

Awards (1)

• Category Award: 3

Competition history

• CSEF 2023 Chemistry · Entry J0611

Resources

• CSEF published award list ↗
• CSEF published award list ↗
• CSEF published award list ↗
• CSEF public showcase (Internet Archive capture) ↗

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