valc91•5d ago

My 7th graders brought in 3 different dish soaps for a science fair project and it got weird

So my advisory group decided to test which dish soap makes the most bubbles for their fair project. One kid brought Dawn, one brought Ajax, and the third brought some random store brand from Food Lion. They set up these little jars with water and a drop of each soap, then shook them up for 10 seconds each. The Dawn totally dominated on bubble height, but here's the thing - the Food Lion stuff actually lasted longer before the bubbles popped. I had to explain that bubble height doesn't mean better cleaning, which got them arguing about what the whole point of dish soap even is. One kid legit asked if we should test grease cutting too, and now I'm stuck mediating a full blown debate between 12 year olds about surfactant science. Has anyone else had to deal with a kid getting way too into the technical side of this stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant4785d ago

I mean I'm kinda with the kid who wanted to test grease cutting, that's what actually matters when you're scrubbing pans. Bubble height is just a flex for marketing, not real world results. It's cool they're thinking about the science behind it though instead of just picking the one with the flashiest commercials.

shane_park925d ago

yeah nah you're totally right about the bubble thing, it's just for looks. i spent years washing dishes in a restaurant kitchen and i can tell you the dish soap that cut through bacon grease the fastest was this cheap pink stuff that barely made any suds at all. the fancy blue bottles with the big foam commercials? straight up useless on a burnt pot. tell the kid to grab a greasy pan and test it with a squirt of each soap and cold water, that's the only way to know what actually works. honest science is just getting your hands dirty and seeing which one wins.