I think that dawn dish soap will be the best alternative because based of my research dawn has a ingredient called  Sodium Lauryl Sulfate that is very effective on stains.Dawn dish soap also has many other ingredients that help break down grease and oil.It is also safer than bleach because on their adds it says you can even wash animals with it.

Baking soda will not be as effective but it will be better than water and soap.I also think that the result for water will be worse than soap because water does not contain any cleaning substance.

Baking soda:The paste helps draw a stain out of the fabric by absorbing the stain. When the paste is washed off, it takes the stain with it down the drain.

Dawn dish soap:The main ingredient to remove stains is Sodium Lauryl Sulfate because of its excellent ability to make foam as well as its ability to effectively break down grease and oil.

Bleach:It is a strongly reactive substance so when :contacted to a stain it breaks down the atoms into small pieces because of the strong chemicals it contains but because of those chemicals it makes it very dangerous.

Water:The higher the temperature, the faster the water molecules are moving. Add momentum into the equation, and the water will be able to seperate the stain from your fabric and bring it down the drain with the water.

soap:Soap reduces the surface tension of water by interacting with the water molecules, making them less likely to stick together and more likely to interact with oil and grease.Which causes it to rinse away with the soap and water.

Why is bleach bad?:

• Inhaling bleach can cause a higher risk of cancer 
• Could irritate eyes and skin when directly contacted 
• Can also take away colors of your original fabric when a wrong amount of bleach is used
• .A dangerous gas can be formed when combined with certain chemicals
• Causes the buildup of chloroform in the air which could lead to heart problems or cause unconsciousness when inhaled
•  when contacted with the eye it could result in serious eye damage 
• The vapours may also cause irritation or damage to the throat  and lungs when inhaled

Ketchup ingreidients:

• tomato concentrate from red ripe tomatoes 
• distilled vinegar
• high-fructose corn syrup
•  corn syrup 
• Salt
•  Spice
•  onion powder
•  natural flavoring

what makes ketchup a harder stain to remove?

When ketchup touches your fabric ,the tomato based pigment the ketchup contains easily sticks to the fabric creating a bright red stain.Additionally, the sugar and vinegar in ketchup can help to set the stain by bonding with the fabric fibers, making it more difficult to remove

Soy sauce ingredients:

• soybeans 
• Wheat 
• salt 
• Water
• Yeast

what makes soy sauce a hard stain to remove?

According to Harvard University,soy sauce presents a unique challenge when it comes to stain removal. Rich in color and deeply penetrating, it is composed of soy, wheat, and water, fermented with a mold known as Aspergillus, commonly called koji.

Controlled Variables

-fabric(same fabric)

-time(30sec)

-amount of stain

-amount of stain remover

-Same toothbrush

Manipulated Variables

-stains:Ketchup,Soy sauce

-stain remover:Dawn dish soap,hand soap,water,Baking soda & water

Responding Variable

How clean or not clean the fabric is after using the stain remover. 

How clean the fabric is compared to using bleach.

1. Cut 24 pieces of same fabrics
2. Apply ¼ tsp of ketchup /soy sauce onto 1 piece of fabric
3. Wait 30 sec for the fabric to absorb
4. Apply ¼ tsp of baking soda paste/hand soap/dawn dish soap/cold tap water onto fabric
5. Scrub for 30 seconds with toothbrush
6. Run under warm water for 30 seconds
7. Put on a drying rack
8. Repeat 2 more times

I noticed that overall, ketchup is a harder stain to clean/remove comparing to soy sauce. Soy sauce stain was easy to remove using most of the stain removers in the experiment, except the antibacterial hand soap.

I also noticed that even though dawn dish soap and hand soap did not end with the best results, they will most likely be easy to come across in a household and has simpler steps to using it,and of course water will likely be the easiest to find in a household but not the best.  

On the other hand, baking soda has the best result as a stain remover in this project, however, it does have more complicated steps to using it as a stain remover as it needs to be made into a paste before applying onto fabric.

According to my observations for soap #2 #3 for ketchup both had a big stain and  for soy sauce # 1 and #2 had small stains to,And the only baking soda fabric that had a small stain was #2 for ketchup.For dawn #1 and # 2 they both had small stains.For water they were all pretty clean except for ketchup #1 and #2.

So overall the best result is Baking soda followed by water then dawn dish soap than hand soap.But I would say compared to Bleach, Bleach is like about 100% and baking soda is about 97% clean.

Baking soda has the most similar result to using bleach, the antibacterial soft soap was the least effective, surprisingly water actually was the second best stain remover out of the four alternatives. The dawn dish soap was in between, Over all, they are all safer options to use to remove stains comparing to bleach. Another thing is that even though baking soda was the best out of the four alternatives, baking soda does not remove stains as well as bleach.

Through this experiment I learned that baking soda is the best solution to a ketchup or soy sauce stain.My experiment can help people pick the right stain remover that actually works not just randomly grabbing what stain removers are in the store.This experiment also educates people that bleach is an extremely dangerous thing to use especially since you could get seriously hurt by it.

1.

I think that what could of made the results uneven is that when I washed the fabric under water I couldn't control the specific temperature of the water.

2. I also think what I could do better is that in reality when you get a stain you probably wouldn't clean it in 30 seconds or less it would probably take about 1 hour to go home if you get the stain at a restaurant

Dawn Dish Soap

https://dawn-dish.com/en-us/

Quality Sodium Lauryl Sulfate Supplier - Yeser Chemicals

https://yeserchem.com/sodium-lauryl-sulfate-sls/

How Does Bleach Work? | Wonderopolis

https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-does-bleach-work/#:~:text=Bleach%20works%20by%20releasing%20oxygen,by%20our%20eyes%20as%20white.  

Why People Love Original Blue Dawn Dish Soap for Stain remover 

https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/why-people-love-original-blue-dawn-dish-soap-for-stain-removal-36963747

I would like to thank my school science fair coordinators :

Ms. Swinton​​​​​​,Ms. McGrath, and Mr.Zhao

I would also like to thank the authors that wrote and posted those great  articles to help me with my research as well as Marko (dad) and Lulu (mom) for helping me with my experiment and my my older sister Joy for giving me tips about the science fair.