HAND WASHING EXPERIMENT

BY: EPIPHANY! (DaiGi, Khushi and Bryan)

Question: Does the temperature of the water you wash your hands with
effect how clean your hands get?

Hypthesis: Yes, it does because studies have shown that warm water
produces more microbes, and cold water kills some, but to kill all
the microbes, you would need to wash your hands in boiling
water. But we arent trying that so the best option is hot water.

Experimental 1) Have one person on your team sprinkle a small

Design: amount of white powder on the palm of one hand. This
person should spread the powder all over his/her hands by
rubbing the hands together, covering the palms, back of
hands, finger and nails,

2) Look carefully at your hands and your partners

hands under the ultraviolet light.

3) Take pictures, one showing the front of the hands,

and the other showing the back of the hand

4) First wash your hands with water that is 10 degrees

celsius. Use the thermometer to make sure the water is at
the right temperature. This will be our cold water for 15
seconds. Use the timer to keep track of time.

5) Observe your hands under the UV light.

6) Record the what you observe on your hands by

taking a picture.

7) Another person who has not washed their hands yet

should repeat steps 1-6. However, instead of using water
at 10 degrees celsius, use water that is 20 degrees celsius.
This will be the warm water.

8) Another person who has not washed their hands yet

should repeat steps 1-6. However, instead of using water
at 10 or 20 degrees celsius, use water that is 40 degrees
celsius. This will be the hot water.

9) Label each before and after picture with the water

that they person washed their hands with. For example, if
 the first person washed their hands with water that was 10
degrees celsius, you would take the before and after
picture and label it Cold Water.
______________________________________________________________

Independent variable: Temperature of water

Dependent variable: The amount of powder left on hands after

handwashing.

Constants: Length of hand washing, amount of soap, amount of

white powder being used.

Materials: Cold Water

Hot Water
Warm Water
1 tablespoons of liquid soap
White powder
3 human partners
Timer
Ultraviolet light
Data: DaiGi: Using cold water
Bryan: Using warm water
Khushi: Using hot water
BEFORE AFTER

COLD WATER-DAIGI COLD WATER-DAIGI

WARM WATER-
WARM WATER-BRYAN
BRYAN
 H

HOT WATER-KHUSHI
OT WATER-KHUSHI

Analysis:

We observed which hands looked the cleanest. We each decided

that the hands that were washed with the hot water was the
cleanest after, 14 out of 14 people agreed that hot water was the
cleanest.

Conclusion: Based on the pictures, we have concluded that temperature does

affect how clean your hands get. To be more specific, warm
water is the least effective for cleaning hands, next is warm
water, while the best choice is hot water.

Our hypothesis was proven, however research contradicts what

we discovered during the experiment. According to the CDC,
which is the Centers for Disease Control, The temperature of
the water does not appear to affect microbe removal; however,
warmer water may cause more skin irritation and is more
environmentally costly. So, it turns out that it it does not matter
whether you use hot or cold water.
https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/show-me-the-science-handwashing.html

The FDA, (food and drug administration) says that hot water is
more effective because it can remove the excess dirt and oils
from your hands.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/health/13real.html