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QUESTION/PURPOSE

What gets skunk smell out without a bad smell

HYPOTHESIS

Skunk smell is terrible and very hard to get out. Because tomato juice also has a strong smell, I think tomato juice will get the smell out the best.

MATERIALS AND PROCEDURES

Materials:

commercial skunk spray (Thermo-Fisher Scientific)
hydrogen peroxide (3%)
lemon juice
laundry detergent (arm and hammer)
agricultural lime
baking soda
tomato juice
bleach
water
liquid soap
commercial skunk spray smell remover (Nature’s Miracle)
white t-shirts (6)
5 gallon buckets (6)

Procedures:

1. Spray commercial skunk spray (1 squirt) on a white t-shirt and put in a bucket with 1 quart 3% hydrogen peroxide 1/4 cup baking soda 1 teaspoon liquid soap and water.

2. Spray commercial skunk spray (1 squirt) on a different white t-shirt and put in a different bucket with tomato juice and water.

3. Spray commercial skunk spray (1 squirt) on a different white t-shirt and put in a different bucket with bleach and agricultural lime and water.

4. Spray commercial skunk spray (1 squirt) on a different white t-shirt and put in a different bucket with laundry detergent and water.

5. Spray commercial skunk spray (1 squirt) on a different white t-shirt and put in a different bucket with commercial skunk spray smell remover.

6. Spray commercial skunk spray (1 squirt) on a different white t-shirt and put in a different bucket to sit until remove others from buckets.

7. Leave t-shirts in their buckets for 5 minutes and then remove to dry.

8. Smell t-shirts and measure commercial skunk spray smell.

ABSTRACT

Have you ever been in the situation where you are sprayed by a skunk and don't know how to get the smell out of your clothes? It is commonly thought that tomato juice will get it out. Is this true? Is tomato juice the answer to removing skunk smell?

In this experiment five different treatments were compared to a control. The treatments included a hydrogen peroxide/baking soda/liquid soap/water mix, tomato juice, bleach/agricultural lime/water mix, laundry detergent/water mix, and a commercially available skunk spray remover. Commercial skunk spray was applied to 11 individual 5x5 cotton t-shirt swatches and allowed to sit for 1 minute. After 1 minute, two swatches were randomly placed into each of the 5-gallon buckets containing one of the treatments. The remaining swatch served as the control. Swatches remained in the treatment buckets for 5 minutes before being removed and dried with a hand-held hair dryer. The swatches were then sniffed and scored by 4 blinded individuals on a scale ranging from 0-10 where 0 indicated no skunk smell was detected and 10 indicated a strong skunk smell remained. The results showed that the bleach/agricultural lime/water mix was the most effective treatment for removing skunk smell from clothing with an average score of 0.125. This treatment also had the least amount of variation. In conclusion, tomato juice makes a better drink than a skunk smell remover.

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