The Truth About Paper Towels And Absorbency

Finding Out Which Brand Paper Towel Absorbs The Most Water

Which brand paper towel absorbs the most water? It’s a question on which countless (admittedly fairly unimaginative) grade school students have based their science projects, and the claims and counter claims of the companies who’d like you to believe they have the answer have put millions of dollars in the pockets of TV advertising execs. Before we address the question of which brand paper towel absorbs the most water, let’s get into the right frame of mind by answering another question: why do paper towels absorb more water than newspaper?

  • Whether paper towels are made from recycled material or virgin pulp, they are all made of cellulose fibers, fibers present in cotton, wood and other plants.

  • Cellulose fibers are regenerated cellulose (sugar molecules), and are used in textile fibers like rayon.

  • These sugar molecules are the key to the absorbency of toilet paper.

  • Just think of how easily sugar dissolves in water- a similar chemical action occurs with water when it comes into contact with toilet paper, which in turn causes it to cling to the paper rather than running off it.

  • Still, that’s not to suggest that you should start dunking paper towels in your morning coffee.

  • The sugar molecules in paper towels are inedible, because they are of a different molecular structure to cane sugar, meaning they’re neither sweet nor in any way nutritious.

  • Indeed, they’d probably make you sick – as would the bleach and ink used to make paper towels so white and pretty.

Scientifically Capillary Action

Aside from their utility of the binding qualities of sugar molecules, paper towels are also made of loosely woven materials that are structurally designed to suck liquid in the same manner that the roots of plants draw water from the ground. This is referred to scientifically capillary action, and is in fact similar to the process that your body uses to deliver blood to your skin and muscles. The loose weave that holds the fibers composing toilet paper together are also what allows it to absorb oil in addition to ordinary fluids.

Answer To Which Brand Paper Towel Absorbs The Most Water

Now that you’re a bit better acquainted with the science part of toilet paper absorbency, you’re probably keen for the final answer: which brand paper towel absorbs the most water? The answer is, annoyingly enough, all of them – and none of them. Try going through the science experiments conducted online, and you won’t see a single experimentally proven answer. Manufacturers of toilet paper regularly go through identical procedures for testing absorbency. Yet, all of them claim more absorbency over the other. Unless all but one of them are lying, how could that be?

Materials And The Effect On Absorbency

The fact is that, even if manufacturers make their paper towels in the same manner every time.

  • The natural fibers within them, which are sourced from wood, are simply not stable enough to come together in the same way every time.

  • So even paper towels that come from the same manufacturer will often exhibit different levels of absorbency depending on when you bought them.

  • Sure, scientists and manufacturers could probably do long term studies on the permutations of the materials and the effect on absorbency to determine which brand paper towel absorbs the most water in terms of statistical majority, but that would probably constitute far too great a drain on time and resources for any company ultimately focused on profit.

After all, even if one could prove one’s brand to be the most absorbent, who really runs around cleaning up spilled juice and measuring how much liquid it absorbs? Most consumers would be far more concerned about wasting juice.

Personal Satisfaction

Therefore, all the manufacturers that claim that their products are absorbent are probably correct. However, for anyone to claim that their product is always more absorbent than all the rest is mere marketing rhetoric, legally acceptable as a claim only because it’s too time consuming to disprove. The bottom line is, really, the end user – in other words, you. How satisfied are you with the product you’re using? With the sheer multitude brands to choose from, there’s really nothing stopping you from testing them out. In fact, why not kill two birds with one stone: next time your son comes to you panicking the day before he needs to hand in his science project, suggest an easy series of experiments to establish an answer to the question: which brand paper towel absorbs the most water?