Is Charmin

Really Stronger
Than The
Ordinary Brand
toilet paper?
By: The Periodic Elements
Leila Griffin, Jessica John, Maximilian Mables,
Oswaldo A. Grajeda

Experiment
Overview

Product: Charmin Essentials Toilet Paper

Claim: 3x Stronger than ordinary
brand.

Independent Variable: The weight

being added.

Questions: In what circumstances

does the toilet paper occur to be 3x
stronger?

Dependent Variable: Strength (when

toilet paper tears).

Hypothesis: Under certain

circumstances, the Charmin toilet
paper is 3x stronger than the ordinary
brand.

Constant: Amount of water and

amount of toilet paper.

10 singular squares of toilet paper

Materials

20 washers (Large Size)

Half cup of blue colored water
A sharpened Pencil
Pipette 5ml
A data chart provided

Procedure

Step By Step...
Step 1: Collect all materials needed.
Step 2: Take two squares and line them up
together, one on top of the other. (Squares as in
toilet paper squares.)
Step 3: Take the pipette and the cup of water.
Using the cup of water, fill the pipette with 5 ml
of water.
Step 4: Release the water of the pipette onto the
center of the toilet paper squares.

Step 4 Example:

Step By Step Cont.

Step 5: Take a washer and place it on the wet
spot of the toilet paper squares.
Step 6: Lift the toilet paper squares up from two
opposite sides. The toilet paper squares should be
lifted about 6 inches off of your surface. Do this
step standing up.
Step 7: If there is no change (nothing happened
to the toilet paper) after 5 seconds continue to
add washers (one at a time) every 5 seconds,
until a change occurs. For example, a rip. (Gently
place washers on top of each other, when
adding.)

Step 6 Example:

Step By Step Cont.

Step 8: As changes occur, use your pencil and
provided data table to record your observations.
Those observations should include how many
washers it took for the squares to rip.
Step 9: Repeat steps 2-8 four more times. There
should be five total trials conducted.

Data Collection

Although,
Although,

Analysis Of Data
We converted the weight of washers into grams. (Data shown in previous slide.)
This allowed us to find the average, by adding all of the trial weights and dividing
by the amount of trails for each brand.
Trial 1+Trial 2+Trial 3.
For the ordinary brand the average weight before a rip was 40.76g.
For the Charmin brand the average weight before a rip was 196.52g.
To find the strength we divided 196.52g by 40.76g. That turned out to be 4.74g.
This means Charmin was approximately 4x stronger!

Conclusion
Our hypothesis presented the idea that Charmin would be 3x stronger than the
ordinary toilet paper brand. Through experiment with both products, we proved our
hypothesis to be true but also not true. The Charmin brand turned out to be 4x
stronger than the ordinary brand. Since this was the case, as a group we questioned
our precision in the experimental process. We decided that there is a list of changes
that would have made the outcome of the experiment be different. Maybe even make
the outcome more accurate. For example, changing amounts of water, weight, or
product tested. (Less or more water, size of washer, amount of toilet paper squares.)
There was also room for human error. By taking out the parts of the experiment
that was exposed to human error, that could have made the experiment more
precise.