Does Acetone Improve Nail Polish Removers?
Alicia H.
The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether nail polish removers containing acetone remove nail polish more effectively than nail polish removers containing ethyl acetate. Also to determine if brand affects the outcome. To carry out this experiment, nails were painted with an even coat of nail polish. The nails were then wiped once with a cotton ball soaked with 1 milliliter of nail polish removers containing either acetone or ethyl acetate of varying brands. Then, the nails were rated on a scale of 1-5 where 1 was no removal of polish and 5 was total removal of polish. The experiment was then repeated four times.
After completing the experiment, it was found that acetone was more effective in removing nail polish than ethyl acetate. Acetone had an average of 3.6, where as ethyl acetate had an average of 2.6. Cutex was the most effective of the acetone-containing brands. CVS brand removed polish almost as well as Cutex, and Revlon and Marquee removed the least polish. Of the two brands of ethyl acetate-containing removers, Cutex was much more effective than CVS brand. In conclusion, the most effective nail polish remover was Cutex that contained acetone.