The Effect of Sunscreen and Wax on Car Finishes
When sunscreen comes in contact with other objects, such as cars, it can damage the quality of the finish. This can be a problem for a family’s car when going to the beach or spending a nice day out in the sun. When sunscreen is applied, it can come in contact with the car by someone rubbing against the car or overspray landing on the car. The purpose of this experiment was to examine the extent of damage done to the car’s finish and to find a solution, like applying a protective wax coating to the car, to help reduce the amount of damage.
To conduct this experiment, 2-inch by 2-inch square car samples were treated with sunscreen, wax and sunscreen, wax, and no treatment and then baked in an oven. The quality of the finish before and after treatment was measured by finding the change in diameter of a reflected laser beam. The mean change in diameter for each treatment type was compared using a two-sample t-test.
The hypothesis that the resulting damage after heating would be less when a protective wax coating was applied to the samples before the sunscreen was accepted. This was proven by conducting a two-sample t-test comparing the means of the sunscreen samples and the wax and sunscreen samples. It was confirmed that the means are significantly different and that the samples treated with wax and sunscreen experienced less damage than the samples treated with just sunscreen.
Research Conducted By:
Elizabeth Evers
Sterling Heights High School
Abigail Pierce
Sterling Heights High School
Warren Consolidated Schools