CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Highlighter has a high demand in the market. This is widely used by the students to give emphasis

on a certain subject. And this is made of chemicals. That’s why the researcher conducted this project to have an

alternative highlighter from natural resources.

Globally, water and soil pollution are the increasing problem. This is caused by the improper

disposal of the chemicals use in manufacturing different products,. And of the products that uses chemicals are

the manufactures of inks, ballpens, highlighters and different writing materials. Waste disposal areas dwindle

because of the increasing number of companies that manufacture the said products above.

Philippines is also experiencing this problem. It was really a problem because it destroys the natural

habitat of the animals where we get our primary needs.

In the locality area, this is also the common problem. And the other one is that the other students

don’t have enough budgets to buy highlighters.

Because of this, the researcher conducted this project. The researcher wants to make a product from

our natural resources. The product is made up of star apple’s husk, since it has the ability and quality to be an

alternative highlighter. The purpose of conducting this is to help in alleviating the problem about water and soil

pollution and to give more affordable highlighter for students

1

Statement of the Problem

The study is conducted to test the potential of star apple (chrysophyllum cainito) as an alternative

highlighter. Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:

1. To what type of paper does Starlight with different level of concentration most visible?

2. Is there any significant difference between the product and commercial ones in terms of

quality and affordability?

3. What potential quality do star apple has that could be useful in producing an alternative

highlighter?

4.

Statement of Hypothesis

H0: 1. There is no significant difference between the quality and affordability of ht product and

commercial ones.

2. Starlight does not possess potential quality that can be useful in producing alternative

highlighter.

Objectives

This investigatory project is made by the researcher to examine the potential of star apple’s husks as

an alternative highlighter.

Specific objectives:

1. To test the potential of the star apple extract as ink for highlighter.

2. To make an affordable but with the same quality as the commercial ones highlighter.

2

Significance of the Study

This study is conducted to reveal the potential of star apple (chrysophyllum cainito) as an alternative

highlighter. Since the demand of the product in the market is high, especially the consumption of the student,

this research could be useful for it will produce an affordable and non-toxic product with the same quality of

those commercial brands. And this is also can be done at home.

This study not only provides information for those people who uses this product but also for those

people who wants an environmentally friendly product; the researcher with this study will give information and

will help in alleviating pollutions that is caused by the chemicals used in making inks for highlighter.

The people in the community will be introduced to a new, cheap and a natural made material that can be

compared with those commercially branded highlighters. And with this study, more researchers can improve

inks from natural resources that will a big a contribution to technology without any harmful effect on our

environment.

3

Scope and Limitation

This study was done to show the potential of star apple (chrysophyllum cainito) as an alternative ink

for highlighter. This study can have and effective contribution in the students.

In making the product, the extract of the star apple’s husk is the needed materials. This was extracted

by boiling. The amount of water put in boiling was different for a different level of concentration.

The availability of the raw material is sometimes a problem because it is seasonal. And this study is

also conducted to help in alleviating pollution caused by chemicals used in making inks and not the total

removal of the pollution or pollutant. This study is only to the limited production of nontoxic and

environmentally friendly inks for highlighter.

This project was undertaken by the researcher from September 7, 2010 to February 28, 2011 in

Subaan, Socorro, Oriental Mindoro and in their school – Leuteboro National High School, Leuteboro, Socorro,

Oriental Mindoro.

4

Definition of Terms

The following terms are as used in the study/define:

Cartridge . It is the storage for the ink of highlighter or ballpen, this is where the ink will be injected

Extract . It is liquid or solid that has been separated from another liquid or solid

Extraction . It is the method the researcher will be using; boiling, squeezing, and filtering

Filtration . It is a separation method used mostly to separate a precipitate from the solution in which it was

formed

Highlighter . It is a special kind of marker used to highlight phrase of important word, especially used by the

students

Injection . It is the act of injecting, used to put the ink or the extract to the cartridge of the highlighter

Star apple (Chrysophyllum Cainito) . It is a tropical tree of the family Sapotaceae, native to the lowlands of

Central America and the West Indies

Star apple (Chrysophyllum Cainito) Extract . It is a reddish-brown liquid from the extracted husk of star apple

that will serve as the alternative ink for the highlighter

Starlight (Star apple and highlighter) . It is the alternative highlighter made by the researcher from the extract

of star apple’s husk

Syringe . It is an instrument used to withdraw a fluid from a reservoir and eject it in or more jets or steams

Tannin . It is a noncrystalline solids with a bitter taste that are obtained from plants

5

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Wikipedia.org conceptualized chrysophyllum cainito as a tropical tree of the family Sapotaceae, native

to the lowlands of Central America and the West Indies. It grows rapidly and reaches 20 m in height.

It has numerous common names including cainito, caimito, star apple,golden leaf tree, abiaba, pomme

du lait, estrella, milk fruit and aguay. It is also known by the synonym Achras cainito. In Vietnam, it is called vú

sữa (literally: milk-breast).

According to Vianica.com, star apples are related to sapotes and sapodillas. The fruit is round and the

size of a regular orange. Depending on the variety, the rind can be green with white pulp, or it can have a purple

rind with pulp of the same color. It can be eaten fresh, or it can be used to produce jellies or marmalades.

The rind should always be removed as it contains high levels of latex. If the fruit is cut transversely, the

start-shaped pulp can be observed, which is girded by the rind. The inner part of the seed is also edible, and it is

used star apple tree is large and very decorative with two-color foliage (the leaves have a green upper part and a

brown bottom part). It originates in Central America and the Antilles, and harvesting takes place mainly

between February and April] as an ingredient for confectionery.

It has round; purple-skinned fruit that is often green around the calyx, with a star pattern in the pulp.

Sometimes there is a greenish-white variety of the fruit. The skin is rich in latex, and both it and the rind are not

edible. The flattened seeds are light brown and hard. It bears fruit year around after it reaches about seven years

of age.

The fruits are delicious as a fresh dessert fruit; it is sweet and best served chilled. Infusions of the leaves

have been used against diabetes and particular rheumatism. The fruit has anti-oxidant properties. The bark is

6

considered a tonic and stimulant, and a bark decoction is used as an antitussive. The fruit also exist in two

colors, dark purple and greenish brown. The purple fruit has a denser skin and texture while the greenish brown

fruit has a thin skin and a more liquid pulp.

Wikipedia.org defines highlighter as a felt-tip pen which is used to draw attention to sections of

documents by marking them with a vivid, translucent color.

In 1962, the felt-tip pen was invented in Japan by Yukio Horie. A highlighter is a felt-tip pen filled with

transparent fluorescent ink. Highlighters are used to take notes in textbooks. Avery Dennison Corporation

invented and trademarked the name Hi-Liter. The new writing tool became popular and was called highlighter.

Many highlighters come in bright, often fluorescent colors. Being fluorescent, highlighter ink will glow

under a black light. The most common color for highlighters is yellow, but they are also found in pink, blue,

green, orange, and purple varieties. Red highlighters can be purchased along with a green translucent sheet used

to hide the highlighted material. This product is sold in Japan and some other countries, and can also be bought

online. Some yellow highlighters may look greenish in color to the naked eye.

Highlighters are available in multiple forms including ones with a retractable felt tip or ones which have

an eraser on the opposite end of the felt tip. Other types of highlighters include the "trilighter," a triangularly-

shaped pen with a different-colored tip at each corner, and ones that are stackable.

As stated in Wikipedia.org, inks are paint like fluids and pastes used for writing and printing. The use of

colored fluids for drawing characters on parchment, hide, or cloth was common in ancient Egypt and China at

least as early as 2000 BC. Ancient writings that are still preserved often used inks based on lampblack (carbon

black), a finely ground pigment dispersed in water or oil. Modern India inks are similarly composed. Other inks

were made form indigo; from galls of oak and nut trees; from tannin; and from inks secreted by octopuses.

7

New Standard Encyclopedia (Chicago, 1993) prefers extract as a liquid or solid that has been separated

from another liquid or solid by the process of extraction. Plant juices may also be mixed with alcohol to form

tinctures, which are used as medicines. Extract of star apple husk has a compound named tannin.

New Standard Encyclopedia (Chicago, 1993) conceptualized tannin as any various compounds that are

obtained from plants and have the ability to convert animal hides into leather. Virtually all plants contain some

tannin. Tannins are obtained from different plants vary slightly in physical properties and chemical behavior. In

general, tannins are noncrystalline solids with a bitter taste.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica (Chicago, 1983), tannin, also called tannic acid, any of a group of

pale-yellow to light-brown amorphous substances in the form of powder, flakes, or a spongy mass, widely

distributed in plants and used chiefly in tanning leather, dyeing fabric, making ink, and in various medical

applications. Tannin solutions are acid and have an astringent taste. Tannin is responsible for the astringency,

color, and some of the flavor in tea. Tannins occur normally in the roots, wood, bark, leaves, and fruit of many

plants, particularly in the bark of oak species and in sumac and myrobalan. They also occur in galls,

pathological growths resulting from insect attacks. In addition to their principal applications in leather

manufacture and dyeing, Soluble in water, tannins form dark blue or dark green solutions with iron salts, a

property utilized in the manufacture of ink.

Extraction was used to make the ink used in our highlighter. Three methods of extraction is pressure,

decoction and solvent.

Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge (USA, 2004) defines filtration as a separation method used mostly

to separate a precipitate from the solution in which it was formed. A solid – liquid mixture is transferred on a

porous material, such as paper, that allows passage of the liquid (filtrate) but retains the solid. Filtration is also

used on large scales for the separation of solids from liquids in industrial chemical processes. Injection was also

used to put the star apple’s extract into the highlighter’s cartridge.

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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

Materials Specification

The materials needed in the study were collected: the fresh fruit of star apple to be peeled and extracted,

a tray to serve as the receptacle of theater star apple’s husk, casserole to boil the husk, clean cloth to filter the

star apple’s extract, funnel for the pouring of concentrated extract into the bottle or container, a bottle or glass

container with cap as a container of star apple’s extract to be used as an ink for highlighter, a syringe used to

eject the extract to a cartridge and a used highlighter or highlighter cartridge.

Procedure

First, the fresh fruit of star apple were gathered. Next, it was washed by water. Then, the husks of star

apple were peeled and were placed into a tray. It was then placed inside the casserole to be boiled until its’ husk

soften. The extract of the husk were then collected and filtered using a clean cloth. The filtered extract was them

put to a container by the use of funnel. And lastly, the extracts that will be used as an ink were injected to the

used highlighter or cartridge of highlighter to make Starlight (alternative highlighter).

The researcher also prepared a commercially branded highlighter (brand x) upon experimenting on the

quality of her product and the branded one.

9

Treatments

The researcher performed the experiment to achieve two goals; (1) to produce a low-cost, nontoxic

and homemade alternative highlighter, (2) to compare its quality from the commercial ones.

The researcher gathered five respondents during the experiment. The researcher used different

amount of water to have a different level of concentration of the extract to be used as ink for the alternative

highlighter. Then final product with different concentration was tested in different types of paper: ordinary

paper, bond paper and yellow paper.

The five respondents rate the Starlight and the commercial highlighter (brand x) based on their

quality and visibility. This was also prepared for the researcher to prevent from being bias in terms of rating

Starlight and the commercial highlighter (brand x).

Materials Bill

The researcher used only locally available material that can be easily found in a community like star

apple. The star apple will cost only Php40.00 per kilo.

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Flow Chart

Figure 1. Process in making Starlight

11

Preparation of star apple fruit

Peeling of star apple's husk

Extraction by means of Boiling

Filtratration

Injection

Packing

CHAPTER IV

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Question #1. To what type of paper does Starlight with different level of concentration most visible?

Table 1. Visibility of Starlight with different level of concentration in different types of paper

The table given above showed the observation made on the trials of the Starlight with different level

of concentration on the most available kind of papers in the locality. This is made by using the product to

highlight a text in different types of paper to test the visibility of the Starlight. It is then observed that the

highlighter made was fine and usable in all kinds of paper. It is noticed that on the ordinary paper, the ink of the

highlighter is most visible compare to the other and its color is the darkest. In the bond paper, the ink is more

visible than in the yellow paper and its color is darker than in yellow paper. And in the yellow, it is noticed that

the ink is less visible among all and it has the lightest color even in the concentrated highlighter. But in every

trial, the text that is being highlighted can be easily read.

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Less concentrated Concentrated

Ordinary paper

The highlighter was used, it was more visible, the color is light and the highlighted text was easily read

The highlighter was used, it was more visible, the color is darker and the highlighted text was easily read

Bond paper

The highlighter was used, it was visible, it was lighter and still the highlighted text was easily read

The highlighter was used, it was visible, dark in color and still the highlighted text was easily read

Yellow paper

The highlighter was used, it was less visible than in bond paper, the color is lightest and still the highlighted text was easily read

The highlighter was used, it was less visible than in bond paper, darker and still the highlighted text was easily read

Table 2.

Ratings of Observers in Using Starlight

Ratings

Observer 1 4

Observer 2 5

Observer 3 3

Observer 4 4

Observer 5 4

Ratings of Observer in using Commercial Highlighter (Brand X)

Ratings

Observer 1 4

Observer 2 4

Observer 3 3

Observer 4 4

Observer 5 3

Legend: 3 – Good

5 – Excellent 2 – Fair

4 – Very good 1 – Poor

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Figure 2. Comparative Mean of the Ratings given by the Observers to

Starlight and Commercial Highlighter (Brand X)

Starlight Brand X3.4

3.5

3.6

3.7

3.8

3.9

4

Average rating

Figure 1 reveals that Starlight has the higher ratings (4) than Commercial Highlighter (Brand X) (3.6)

according to the observers.

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Table 3.

Comparison between the Prices of Starlight and

Commercial Highlighter (Brand X)

Price

Starlight Php20.00

Brand X Php39.00

The table shows that Starlight costs Php20.00 while Commercial Highlighter (Brand X) costs Php39.00.

The cost of Starlight is approximately 51% lower than the Commercial Highlighter (Brand X).

Starlight costs Php20.00 since star apple fruit cost Php40.00 per kilo and we can make 3 - 4 Starlight

highlighters per kilo of star apple.

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Figure 3. Comparative Prices of Starlight and

Commercial Highlighter (Brand X)

Starlight Brand XPhp0.00 Php5.00

Php10.00 Php15.00 Php20.00 Php25.00 Php30.00 Php35.00 Php40.00

Price

Figure 2 reveals that Starlight has the lower price, which is Php20.00 than the Commercial Highlighter (Brand X)

which is Php39.00

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CHAPTER V

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Summary of Findings

The theoretical comprehension and analytical computations carried out in this study showed the

following results:

a. In less concentrated Starlight, it is more visible and darker in an ordinary paper.

b. In less concentrated Starlight, it is less visible and lighter in a yellow paper than in a bond

paper.

c. In concentrated Starlight, it is more visible and darker in an ordinary paper.

d. In concentrated Starlight, it is less visible and lighter in a yellow paper than in a bond paper.

e. The darkness of the highlighter is due to the level of concentrations of the extract used as ink

for the product.

f. The visibility of the ink is due to the type of paper or the smoothness or roughness of the

paper.

Conclusions

From the results gathered, the researcher concluded that the product Starlight has more potential and

more affordable than Commercial Highlighter (Brand X) for the following reasons:

a) Texts highlighted using Starlight can be read easily.

b) There is significant difference on the potential of Starlight as an alternative highlighter than those

of commercial ones.

c) Starlight is more affordable than those of commercial highlighters.

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Recommendations

Based on the foregoing and results, the following measures are recommended:

1. It is recommended that Starlight must be placed away from heat.

2. When the color of the highlighter was fading you can put a few drops of Starlight Refiller.

3. It is highly recommended that to always use a concentrated solution of star apple extract as a

Starlight Refiller.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Encyclopedia

“Extract”. New Standard Encyclopedia (1993). Volume 5. Chicago : Standard Encyclopedia p. 267

“Filtration”. Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge (2004). Volume 7. USA : Grolier Incorporated p. 276

“Ink”. Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge (2004). Volume 10. USA : Grolier Incorporated p. 158

“Ink”. New Standard Encyclopedia (1993). Volume 7. Chicago : Standard Encyclopedia p. 110 – 111

“Tannin”. Encyclopedia Britannica (1983). Volume 9. Chicago: Britannica Encyclopedia p. 809

“Tannin”. New Standard Encyclopedia (1993). Volume 15. Chicago : Standard Encyclopedia p. 29

Electronic Document

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crysophyllum_cainito Date access: February 25, 2010

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ink Date access: February 25, 2010

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highlighter Date access: February 25, 2010

http://vianiva.com/go/specials/14-nicaraguan-fruits Date access: February 25, 2010

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APPENDIX

Statistical Test for the Ratings of Observers

In both Starlight and Commercial Highlighter (Brand X)

(Using T – test)

1. Ho: There is no significant difference between the quality and affordability of the product and

commercial ones.

2. α = 0.05

3. Degrees of Freedom = N1 + N2 – 2

= (5 + 5) – 2

= 8

Tabular value at 0.05 level of significance is 1.860

4. Computation

Ungrouped |X – X| (X – X)2

4 4 – 4 = 0 0

5 5 – 4 = 1 1

3 3 – 4 = -1 1

4 4 – 4 = 0 0

4 4 – 4 = 0 0

∑ | (X – X) 2| = 2

X1 = 4

20

Ungrouped |X – X| (X – X)2

4 4 – 3.6 = 0.4 0.16

4 4 – 3.6 = 0.4 0.16

3 3 – 3.6 = 0.6 0.36

4 4 – 3.6 = 0.4 0.16

3 3 – 3.6 = 0.6 0.36

∑ | (X – X) 2| = 1.2

X2 = 3.6

X1 = 2 X2 = 1.2

N1 = 5 N2 = 5

S1 = 0.40 S 2 = 0.24

t = X1 – X2

(N1 – 1) (S1)2 + (N2 – 1) (S2)2 1 + 1N1 + N2 – 2 N1 N2

2 – 1.2

=(5– 1) (0.4) 2 + (5 – 1) (0.24) 2 1 + 1

5 + 5 – 2 5 5

0.80=

(4) (0.16) + (4) (0.0576) 0.2 + 0.2 8

21

0.80=

0.64 + 0.2304 0.4 8

0.80=

0.8704 0.4 8

0.80=

0.1088 0.4

= 0.80 (0.3298) (0.6325)

= 0.80 0.2086

t = 3.8351

5. Decision: Reject Ho

Since the absolute value of t (3.8351) is greater than the tabular value (1.860), the null

hypothesis is rejected. It implies therefore that there is significant difference on the potential of Starlight

as an alternative highlighter than those of commercial ones.

22

Plate 1: Gathering the Materials Needed

Plate 2: Washing of the Raw Material

23

Plate 3 - 4: Removing the husk

24

Plate 5: Boiling the husk

Plate 6 - 7: Extracting the boiled husk

25

Plate 8: Final product

26

Plate 9: Testing Starlight

27