KEEPING COOL

Cap 5.2 ENG M&M

RESEARCH QUESTION
Which t-shirt material stays the coolest in the sun?

HYPOTHESIS
If I leave out three t-shirts made of different fabrics; polyester, cotton,
and silk in the sun for 1 hour. Then the polyester t-shirt will have the
lowest temperature or be the coolest one out of the three. I think this
because polyester is the material found most in workout clothes. When
you workout you get very hot and polyester keeps you from getting over
heated. Also polyester is a material that you can move in very easily and
it is breathable.

RATIONALE
There are two reasons why I want to do this project. One is because I love
fashion. The other is because my family goes to Disney a lot and when we
go we always get really hot because of our clothing so I want to find out
which material will keep us cooler in the sun at the Disney parks.

ABSTRACT
Which type of t-shirt material stays the coolest? If I leave out three t-shirts
made of different fabrics; polyester, cotton, and silk in the sun for 1 hour. Then
the polyester t-shirt will have the lowest temperature out of the three. I think
this because polyester is the material found most in workout clothes. There are
two reasons why I want to do this project. One is because I love fashion. The
other is because my family goes to Disney a lot and when we go we always get
really hot because of our clothing so I want to find out which material will keep
us cooler in the sun at the Disney parks. My procedures are to gather my
materials, then leave one white 100% cotton t-shirt, one white 100% polyester
t-shirt, and one white 100% silk t-shirt on a patch of grass in the sun for one
hour, next scan the temperatures with the electronic infrared thermometer,
record data, then repeat above steps at the same time each day for ten days.
Once you are done analyze the data. My data showed that I was correct the
polyester said the coolest out of the other two types of fabrics. The average
temperature of the polyester was 87.3 Fahrenheit, cotton was close by 87.7
and the hottest was 89.7. My conclusion is that the polyester t-shirt stayed the
coolest because it had the lowest temperature average and it had the lowest
temperatures on each trial the most times.

MATERIALS
1. A black ink pen
2. A data chart
3. A computer
4. A grassy area
5. The sun
6. One white 100% polyester t-shirt
7. One white 100% cotton t-shirt
8. One white 100% silk t-shirt
9. One infrared thermometer

PROCEDURES
1. Gather materials
2. Leave one white 100% cotton t-shirt, one white 100% polyester t-shirt,
and one white 100% silk t-shirt on a patch of grass.
3. Leave shirts in the sun for one hour.
4. Scan temperatures with the infrared thermometer.
5. Record data
6. Repeat steps 1 through 5 each day at the same time of day.
7. Once you are done see which t-shirt stayed the coolest by taking the
average of the ten days.
8. Write a conclusion about the results of the experiment

Data Chart
Day

Temp outside

Cotton

Silk

Polyester

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

79*
82*
83*
86*
82*
82*
84*
88*
82*
81*

88.7*
94.1*
89.6*
100*
83*
84.2*
88.7*
98.6*
72.5*
78.2*

89.6*
97.1*
91.7*
108*
82.7*
87.2*
87.8*
100.1*
73.8*
78.8*

88.1*
93.2*
88.4*
99.8*
83.6*
84.2*
89.6*
95.3*
72.5*
78.8*

Graph
made by Faith
Booth

Shirt Temperature
120
100
80

Temperature in Fahrenheit

60
40
20
0
1

Trial Days
Cotton

Polyester

Silk

10

DATA ANALYSIS
Each day the temperatures of each material were different. The average
temperature for cotton is 87.7 degrees Fahrenheit. The average
temperature for silk is 89.79 degrees Fahrenheit. Finally the average
temperature for polyester is 87.35 degrees Fahrenheit. This means that
my hypothesis is correct and the polyester remained the coolest. This
relates to by hypothesis because the results matched by prediction.

CONCLUSION
The question asked was; which t-shirt material stays the coolest in the
sun? My hypothesis was that the polyester t-shirt would stay the coolest
in the sun. And my results accepted my hypothesis. The data collected
showed that the polyester shirts average temp was 87.3 and the cotton
was close with an average of 87.8 and then the hottest one was silk with
an average of 89.7 Fahrenheit. Since I knew that most workout clothes
are made of polyester these results are not surprising to me. Because I
know when you workout or play sports you get really hot and it would be
nice to have clothes that dont cause you to overheat. So, polyester is a
good shirt option to keep you cool in the sun and it is easy to move in.

REFERENCE BIBLIOGRAPHY
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
"Manmade/artificial Fibers." www.textileschool.com. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
"What Is Polyester." What Is Polyester. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
"National Cotton Council of America." National Cotton Council of America.
Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
"Silk." How Silk Is Made. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
"What Is Cotton?" WiseGEEK. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.