All purpose Permanent Marker
By Tony Yihan Shi
Junior Category (Grades 7-8)
Innovation | Chemistry, Environment
The main purpose of this project is to create permanent markers that are more efficient and better than regular daily living permanent markers in areas including eco-friendly level, quick drying, and quantity of surfaces and prove that eco-friendly products are worth to buy.
This inspiration of this project came to be when I tried to decorate a plastic cup with a sharpie marker, the ink did not stay on and smudged all over the cup when touched. Based on background research about different types of ink, Chinese painting ink is both affordable and eco-friendly because it is made of biotic materials such as animal glue. In trial 1, I combined boric acid, Chinese painting ink and acetone, which resulted in a big blob of sponge. In trial 2, I combined Chinese painting ink, acetone, and glue, which resulted in a pudding-like mixture. In trial 3, I added everything in trail 2 but also included alcohol, and it resulted in a faster drying and sticky permanent marker with darker ink. Therefore, people should not judge the way eco-friendly products might not work as well as the chemically made ones because sometimes, eco-friendly products may work just the same or better.
