Which paper absorbs best? -1st class

First we brainstormed the word 'absorb'. We discussed what we would use to mop up spills in the kitchen and what kind of clothes would dry the quickest on the washing line.

I then explained to the students what we would be investigating. We discussed how important it was to keep all the paper the same size to ensure that the experiment was fair.

We designed a support using boxes and a meter stick.We then hung the pieces of paper from the support using pegs. We placed water in clear containers and a few drops of red food colouring which helped to show up the water. We then hung the pieces of paper so that they were just dipping in the water.

After a few minutes we used a ruler to measure in cm what distance the water travelled up the different strips of paper. We filled in the results on a table and ordered the paper according to how well they absorbed the water.

The results of the experiment showed that the napkin was the best absorber as the liquid travelled 12cm.