Paper and Water

On Tuesday, we shifted our focus from wood to paper.  Our investigation was called Paper and Water.  Our goal was to see what happens when you put paper and water together.  We got our lab coats, arranged ourselves in our research teams and set out to work.  

We started by gathering the tools we would need…water, eye droppers and paper samples.  First we explored the five paper samples.  These included paper towel, newsprint, wax paper, chipboard and cardboard.  

  

Next, using the eyedroppers, we added drops of water to each paper sample and observed what happened.

   

We discovered that some of the paper samples absorbed the water and some of them repelled the water.  Interesting!  Then we wondered what would happen if we placed each one of the paper samples in a basin of water.  Would they sink or float?  We had to find out!

   

Ms. Kieltyka chose scientists to place a sample of each type of paper in the basin.

 Once all the samples were placed in the basin, we watched.  The paper towel sank right away…but none of the others did.  We decided to keep an eye on it throughout the day.  By the time we went home on Tuesday, the chipboard had also sunk.  We decided to leave it overnight and check on it in the morning.

You'll never believe this…when we arrived Wednesday morning, the cardboard, newsprint and wax paper sample were all still floating!  We left them for another 24 hours and the three remaining samples were still floating.  We were surprised at our discoveries with this investigation!