AN INVESTIGATORY PROJECT TO MS. RHEA SIENES OF THE SCIENCE DEPARTMENT OF MARY HELP OF CHRISTIANS SCHOOL CEBU INC.
In partial fulfillment in Science
Submitted by: Regina Lim
Rationale:
Nowadays a lot of us Filipinos get sick easily. According to the experts, it is because of the germs we accumulate as our day progresses. These germs could pass from one person to another or by just touching anything and doing our day-to-day activities. How can we lessen the germs we get without affecting our activities for the day? That is how I came up with the idea of using vinegar and lemon as a hand sanitizer. Vinegar has anti-bacterial and cleansing purposes; lemon on the other hand can kill germs and remove any bad odors that your hands may have developed. Most hand sanitizers that we see in drugstores contain many chemicals and it can be very expensive at most times. The hand sanitizer I will be creating is the complete opposite. It is natural and eco-friendly and you can just make it with the items that are already in your pantry and refrigerator.
Review of Related Literature
Lemon
The lemon has many purposes and well known for its culinary uses especially its juice. A lemon is a hybrid between a sour orange and a citron. Lemon is also used as a temporary preservative for some food that oxidizes and turns brown after being sliced. The juice is used for cleaning as well. If you mix lemon and baking soda, it can lighten some solid surfaces since the acid dissolves the tarnish and the abrasives assist with the cleaning. Lemon juice can inhibit some bacteria if they are sensitive to lower (acidic) ph. As lemon, juice is an acid. The acid in lemon juice removes dirt and rust stains. It’s especially effective when mixed with salt. Sometimes, lemons can irritate the skin and cause inflammation. This can be avoided by adding a bit of water to it, which helps decreases it’s acidic levels.
Vinegar
In ancient times, vinegar was used to treat infections and to kill bacteria. White vinegar is often used as a household cleaning material. Because it is acidic, it can dissolve mineral deposits in some surfaces (it’s recommended that you should mix it with water for safety and to avoid damaging the area being cleaned). Vinegar has been reputed to have strong antibacterial properties. One test by Good Housekeeping's microbiologist found that 5% vinegar is 90% effective against mold and 99.9% effective against bacteria, while a study showed that vinegar is less effective than Clorox and Lysol against poliovirus. Vinegar has been marketed as an environmentally friendly solution for many household cleaning problems. White vinegar is a great disinfectant. It also acts as a deodorizer and cuts grease.
The acid in vinegar crosses the cell membrane of bacteria and prompts a release of protons, which causes the cell to die. White vinegar can also remove or clean molds and germs. Vinegar’s main component is acetic acid, which causes vinegar to have a sour taste and pungent smell.
* Procedure 1. Mix vinegar and lemon together in the mixing bowl 2. Add the water 3. Add the essential oil 4. Mix thoroughly
* Variables
Independent
1. Vinegar (kind) 2. Amount of vinegar 3. Amount of lemon
Control 1. Amount of essential oil 2. Essential oil (brand and kind) 3. Water
Definition of Terms
Acetic Acid: Acetic acid is the main component of vinegar (apart from water; vinegar is roughly 8% acetic acid by volume), and has a distinctive sour taste and pungent smell.
Acidic: Chemicals or substances that are said to have the properties of acid
Disinfectant: Disinfectants are substances that are applied to non-living objects to destroy microorganisms that are living on the objects.
Hand Sanitizer: A hand sanitizer or hand antiseptic is a supplement or alternative to hand washing with soap and water.
Lemon: The lemon is a small evergreen tree native to Asia, and the tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit. The fruit is used for culinary and non-culinary purposes throughout the world, primarily for its juice, though the pulp and rind (zest) are also used in cooking and baking
Vinegar: Vinegar is a liquid consisting mainly of acetic acid (CH3COOH) and water.
Bibliography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinegar http://www.beliefnet.com/Health/Physical-Health/Hidden-Health-Secrets-of- Lemons.aspx http://busycooks.about.com/od/quicktips/qt/vinegartips.htm http://www.care2.com/greenliving/vinegar-kills-bacteria-mold-germs.html http://www.davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/queen-of-green/faqs/cleaning/does- vinegar- kill-germs/ http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/cleaning/all-natural-cleaning-solutions 00000000011547/index.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetic_acid http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081210145809AAVjNK5 http://www.trueactivist.com/45-uses-for-lemons-that-will-blow-your-socks-off/ Data and Results | FIRST TRIAL | SECOND TRIAL | Ingredients: | Aloe Vera, vinegar, lemon, water, alcohol, petroleum jelly and essential oils | Vinegar, lemon, oranges/ essential oils, water and alcohol | Removed: | None | Aloe Vera & Petroleum jelly | Added: | Petroleum Jelly | Oranges | Results: | Gel-like consistency wasn’t appealing. Weird odor and color | Liquid hand sanitizer would be better because the gel-like consistency was hard to create and sticky. Good citrusy scent. It had a nice color to it. | Why did you add/remove an ingredient? | The petroleum jelly made it messy and sticky | The Aloe Vera and Petroleum Jelly gave it a weird consistency while the oranges gave it a better scent. |
First Trial Respondents: | Comments: | Suggestion | Person A: | Smell is unpleasant. It is slightly effective. | Put less vinegar and add a bit of fragrance and alcohol | Person B: | Smell is too strong although it is effective | Add a bit more of lemons or oranges | Person C: | It smells too strong and slightly effective | Add fragrance |
Second Trial: Respondents: | Comments: | Suggestions: | Person A: | Smells better and is more effective | None | Person B: | Smells a lot better and can remove the dirt even faster and more thoroughly | None | Person C: | Smells good and works better | None |
Interpretation and Analysis:
After the first trial I realized that I needed more lemons than vinegar because first off, it made the hand sanitizer smell better. I also realized that it became more effective in removing all the dirt in my hands and is more thorough in removing it as well. Although the vinegar really did help in disinfecting and removing the germs and bacteria, the only problem was that I couldn’t really add a huge amount of it to the sanitizer because the smell might end up being a bit too strong to hide. I suppose that’s why a lot of the respondents reacted to the smell that way in the first trial; it was due to the amount of vinegar I added in the hand sanitizer and the fact that I added petroleum jelly and Aloe Vera did not really help with it. The reason I added the Aloe Vera was to help minimize the irritation lemon may cause when applied directly to the skin and after a quick research I found out that the Aloe Vera could be substituted with water or alcohol. It really helped with the scent which ,as shown in the table above, a lot of respondents reacted negatively to.
Findings: * Vinegar is a very effective disinfectant * Lemon can easily remove dirt, when mixed with the right ingredients * Vinegar and lemon can make a very effective hand sanitizer because they complement each other. * If you add alcohol, it can help the lemon in removing dirt * Aloe Vera and petroleum jelly, when mixed together, doesn’t actually create gel-like consistency. * When creating a hand sanitizer with these two ingredients as your major ingredients, make sure that their amounts will complement each other and the other ingredients as well.
Conclusion:
Therefore, vinegar and lemon mixed together would make a great eco-friendly hand sanitizer although adding too much of each ingredient could probably cause the hand sanitizer to be slightly defective or it just really wouldn’t work out as a hand sanitizer. It would really help to add some ingredients that are a bit more subtle when it comes to scent.
Recommendation:
For anyone who would like to continue or try out the experiment I did, I would really recommend not to add a lot of vinegar or add too much Aloe Vera as well, as this can really affect the product that you are making. You also need to make sure, to add more lemons and alcohol if you want your hand sanitizer to be more on removing dirt and cleaning your hand although if you want it to be more on the disinfecting side, you should add more vinegar.
