SYCAMORE REPORTS MAY 2009 ISSUE

BLUE ASH DIVISION Kevin Jaffe Tom Kisselle Allison Landrum Kevin Landrum Kathleen Leonard Nick McDonough Noah Patterson Adam Pelberg Griffin Roof Matt Bolger Taylor Race Ryan Hertlein Emma Blessing Johnny Heppler MAPLE DALE DIVISION Max Deihl Kyra Fales Mallory Hall Rachel Izworski Shayna Kling Varsha Krishnamoorthy Bryn Lewis Justin Lovro Chris McCann Kyle McCann Laura Mihlbachler Daniel Polasky Evan Sichel Sydney Tepe MONTGOMERY DIVISION Ellie Baden Connor Blunt T.J. Cracas Mira Dewan Andy Han Rayna Klugherz Grant Laneve Jack Lareau Eric Moeller Luis Pereda Jack Queenan Angelo Valli Brian Yoon SYMMES DIVISION Sarah Brownlee Grant Bruner Elliott Carl Dylan Clapp Pierce Ellingson Samantha Fernandez Ken Guo Astin Lin Emma Murphy Cameron Snowden Matthew Supp Libby Van Den Brink Maddy Weiss

There are a lot of batteries out there

hen Nick

McDonough

plays his VG

pocket game,

the batteries always run out

very quickly,

sometimes right in

the middle of a

game and there are

no extra batteries

around. So, the Blue Ash

team decided to see which

is better: Duracell alkaline

or Dorcy heavy duty

batteries.

Overview If you go into a store and

go to the battery aisle, you

see many different types of

batteries. For example, the

common types are double

AA, triple AAA, C cell and

D cell. The brand names

you can find are Dorcy®,

Duracell®, Energizer

® and

a lot more. You can buy a

4-pack

of all

the

batteries

. Our

team

tested two brands (Dorcy

and Duracell) using the

double AA types.

Test description The team took four

identical flashlights. The

team put four Duracell AA

batteries into two

flashlights and four Dorcy

AA batteries into another

set of two flashlights.

Then, the team turned both

flashlights on and

measured how long each

set of batteries lasted.

When, the light went out,

the team put another set of

batteries in the flashlights.

Test result The team figured out that

Dorcy lasted about 2 hours

before the light went out.

Duracell, on the other

hand, lasted about 4 hours.

That means, the Duracell

lasted about twice as long

as Dorcy.

Recommendations You should get Duracell

instead of Dorcy because

Duracell lasts a lot longer.

In our tests, it lasted 4

hours in a row. You should

buy Duracell for that

reason.

W

Battery Longevity Heavy duty AA versus Alkaline AA

This test is testing the stickiness of two types of tape

oah Patterson

was playing a

trick on his

brother. He was

trying to put all his coins in

a cup with tape. The next

second it broke. His brother

found out about the trick

and Noah was very

unhappy. What Noah really

needed to know was which

tape was stronger. Overview When you walk into the

store, what do you see?

Tape! All kinds of tape!

For example, you can kind

Kroger and Scotch brand

tape. Which kind should

you buy?

Test description This test is testing the

stickiness of two types of

tape (Kroger tape and

Scotch tape). The Blue Ash

team did this by taping a

plastic cup to a wall. Then,

the team put pennies into

the cup until the adhesive

broke and the cup fell.

Then, the team recorded

the results.

Test result The team did 17 trials and

after several trials, the

average number of pennies

held by the Scotch brand

was 36.3 and the average

number of pennies held by

the Kroger brand was 48.

They were just 11.7

pennies apart.

Recommendations We recommend the Kroger

brand because it not only

cost less but it holds tighter

than Scotch tape does.

N

Perfectly Sticky

Tape Scotch tape versus Kroger tape

Has a diaper ever leaked on the floor?

as a baby’s

diaper ever

leaked on the

floor? Or, as

Max Deihl explains,

“When I was six months

old my dad did not use a

blocking hand while he

was changing my diaper

and I accidentally went in

my own mouth!” Well, you

don’t have to worry anymo

re because modern diapers

have got your back. A

modern diaper will hold the

liquid in.

Overview When you go to the store to

buy diapers you might see

many different types and

sizes of diapers. You might

also see wipes, baby bath

products like soap, lotion

and powder, baby food,

cereal, formula, and

snacks. There

are a lot of

diapers. Some

diaper brands

are Huggies,

Kroger,

Pampers and

Luvs. The most expensive

ones can run up to about

$12 for up to 56 diapers .

The least expensive ones

can cost $5 to $6 dollars.

Test description When the Sycamore

Reports team did the test,

we got Kroger Value

diapers and Huggies. We

did two tests for each

brand. How we did the

diaper test is we measured

water and poured it in the

diaper We tested the

diapers by pouring 2oz. of

water in them at a time. If

any water leaked out when

we held it up, we started a

new test.

Test result When we were

done with our

experiment on

testing two

brands of

diapers (Huggies and

Kroger), it was clear that

Huggies was much more

absorbent. Huggies diapers

beat Kroger Value diapers.

Huggies can hold up to 20

oz. of water while Kroger

Value can hold up to 16 oz.

of water. So Huggies

definitely won!

Recommendations We tested two diapers. If

you are worried about

money, you should buy the

Kroger brand of diapers.

For the same reason, if you

change your baby's diaper

often and want something

inexpensive buy Krogers

brand.

The Kroger Value diapers

were cheaper but they held

less water. If you change

your diapers less often, we

would recommend Huggies

because soaks up more

liquid. It will hold more

liquid than the Kroger

brand but it is much more

expensive.

H Diaper Wars! Huggies versus Kroger in the arena of

absorbency

They were thinking, “what makes a good aluminum foil good?”

he Johnson’s were

having

Thanksgiving and

they already

bought their turkey. They

were wrapping their turkey

with aluminum foil. Then

the aluminum foil ripped

and the turkey fell

to the floor. They

were thinking,

“what makes a good

aluminum foil

good?”

Overview When you go down the

aisle, what do you see?

Krogers, Reynolds and

other foils. If you’re in

Biggs, you see Biggs brand

and other foils. If you’re in

Walmart, you’ll see

Walmart brand and other

foils. Which one should

you choose?

Test description The two products we tested

were Reynolds foil and

Kroger foil. The team

connected the aluminum

foil between two dowels.

We put as much weight on

it as it could hold. We put

heavy

things

like

bags of

pennies

on a

piece of the foil to see

when it would tear. We

weighed the weights and

we saw which one was the

strongest and which was

the weakest.

Test result We expected Reynolds to

win because it is more

popular. But Kroger won.

The Kroger foil is stronger

than the Reynolds foil. It

could hold more pounds.

Reynolds’ average was 6

lbs., 13 oz. Kroger’s was 7

lbs, 14 oz. We did it by

turning the pounds into

ounces

and

finding

the

average.

Recommendations Our team thinks that most

people should (but not have

to) buy the Kroger brand

aluminum foil. Although it

was only slightly stronger

than the Reynolds, it’s so

close it doesn’t matter. But,

Kroger is cheaper so we

recommend the Kroger. .

T

Fight of the Foils Reynolds versus Kroger

atthew Supp

and his brother

were making

things with

rubber bands. They were

pretending they were cops

and robbers. Suddenly one

rubber band snapped, and

hit his brother in the eye.

What they really needed

was a rubber band that

doesn’t snap easily.

Emma Murphy was

looking in her cabinet

when she found a very old

rubber band. She stretched

it and it snapped right

away. This got her

thinking,"What makes a

really good rubber band?"

Overview When you walk into the

rubber band section of a

store, there are many kinds

of rubber bands, thick and

thin, wide and narrow. You

see lots of different brands,

sizes, weights and colors.

You even see different

numbers of rubber bands

like #64 and #32. So,

which one do you choose?

Test description For the first test, Symmes

Consumer Reporters

connected two plastic chain

links to a rubber band. One

link was attached to a hook

on the wall. A student

pulled on the link on the

opposite end. We measured

the distance each brand of

rubber band would stretch

before it broke or could not

be stretched farther.

For the second test, the

team chained baskets on

the bottom of the rubber

bands. Then, the team put

sand into the baskets until

the rubber bands snap. This

showed us how much

weight the rubber bands

can hold.

Test result A test result is a result of

something that you tested.

The two types of rubber

bands we tested are Office

Depot and Staples. The

average length of the

Office Depot rubber band

that stretched before they

snapped was 68.5cm. The

average length for Staples

was 65.1cm.

The team had a problem

doing the weight test with

the #64 bands. They were

too thick and strong. So,

they were marked ERR and

the team switched to #32

rubber bands. They are

skinnier than the #64s but

they stretched well.

Recommendations For the stretching test,

Sycamore Reports

recommends that you get

Office Depot rubber bands.

You should get them

because they are small but

they do stretch far. We

recommend these because

if you wanted a rubber

band to stretch far, you

would want something that

would secure anything.

For the weight test, we

would recommend for

everyone to use Staples

rubber band because it

stretches more than those

other brands before it

snapped. Also, it held 12

lbs. 3 oz of sand.

M

Rubber Band Brands Office Depot versus Staples in the battle of the bands

But which soap is the best?

ira Dewan

was using

chalk

and got

dust all over her

hands. She decided

to wash it off with

soap. But which

soap is the best?

Overview When people walk in a

store, they see soap. There

are different brands like

Dove, Lava, and Bees

Wax. There are all different

prices that range from $1 to

$6.

Test description We put black marks on our

arms to

test which

soap was

better at

washing.

We drew a

mark with a black marker

on our test subjects’ arms.

We rubbed the mark for

fifteen seconds with each

bar of soap to see which

bar of soap cleaned best or

if you couldn't see the mark

at all. After 15 seconds we

washed off the soap and

observed.

Test result The Bees Wax and the

Dove soap both left no sign

of a mark. At the same

time, Lava soap left just a

faint mark.

Recommendations We believe you should use

Dove soap. The subjects

testing the Dove soap saw

it was easier to rub on. It

was also easier to rinse off

their skin than the soap of

anyone else.

The Bees Wax soap also

left no mark at all and it is

all natural ingredients.

However it is labeled as a

shampoo. You may want to

use it as hair cleaner. But

you should buy soap that

costs less money and that

would be Dove.

M

Suspicious about

Super Soaps? Uncover the mystery behind soap

Credits BLUE ASH DIVISION Kevin Jaffe Tom Kisselle Allison Landrum Kevin Landrum Kathleen Leonard Nick McDonough Noah Patterson Adam Pelberg Griffin Roof Matt Bolger Taylor Race Ryan Hertlein Emma Blessing Johnny Heppler MAPLE DALE DIVISION Max Deihl Kyra Fales Mallory Hall Rachel Izworski Shayna Kling Varsha Krishnamoorthy Bryn Lewis Justin Lovro Chris McCann Kyle McCann Laura Mihlbachler Daniel Polasky Evan Sichel Sydney Tepe

MONTGOMERY DIVISION Ellie Baden Connor Blunt T.J. Cracas Mira Dewan Andy Han Rayna Klugherz Grant Laneve Jack Lareau Eric Moeller Luis Pereda Jack Queenan Angelo Valli Brian Yoon SYMMES DIVISION Sarah Brownlee Grant Bruner Elliott Carl Dylan Clapp Pierce Ellingson Samantha Fernandez Ken Guo Astin Lin Emma Murphy Cameron Snowden Matthew Supp Libby Van Den Brink Maddy Weiss