Awards Earned: 1st Place, 7th Physical Science, PCA Science Fair

Does the right clothing material help an athlete to stay cooler from evaporative cooling?

The materials with the greater percentage of polyester will allow more evaporation, since polyester seems to be the most common material. Therefore the Nike material and the ClimaCool will allow the most evaporation and cool the temperature sensor the most.

Different clothing materials: Adidas ClimaCool, Hind Drylete, Under Armour, Nike, cotton shirt

The control group was the temperature sensor on the wet paper towel in front of the fan and light spray with water every minute.

Paper towel, temperature sensor, small fan, spray bottle, water,
Adidas ClimaCool (one hundred percent polyester),
Hind Drylete (sixty-three percent nylon, twenty-three percent polyester, fourteen percent spandex),
Under Armour (sixty-four percent nylon, twenty-two percent polyester, fourteen percent elastane),
Nike material (one hundred percent polyester),
one hundred percent cotton shirt.

1. Place temperature sensor on wet paper towel.
2. Place paper towel and temperature sensor between the two layers of the shirt.
3. Put the set up in front of the fan and turn the fan on.
4. Take temperature readings every minute until the temperature reaches steady state.
5. Spray the paper towel with water one light spray every minute.
6. Repeat test three times for every clothing material and average the results for the three tests.

The control group represented a body without any clothing material. The ClimaCool and the Nike materials reduced the temperature of the temperature sensor more than the control group, and the other three materials reduced the temperature less than the control group.

The hypothesis was that the Nike and the ClimaCool would decrease temperature the most because they had the highest percentage of polyester (one hundred percent). Therefore my hypothesis was correct. The Nike and ClimaCool reduced the temperature more than the other materials. The Nike material reduced the temperature just slightly more than the ClimaCool. The materials that reduced the temperature the next least are the Under Armour and the Hind Drylete. The cotton reduced the temperature the least. In test two the ClimaCool did not reduce temperature the most. This may have been because of different humidity.

This experiment attempted to determine the clothing material that allowed the most evaporation. If we are not cooled off properly we could become ill. If we do not take care of our bodies, we can not serve God to the best of our ability. God would want us to take care of our bodies so that we can do our best to serve Him.

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God with your body.” I Corinthians 6:19-20

This says that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Also, Jesus sacrificed his life for us. Because of these things we should take care of our bodies so that we can do our best to glorify God.

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