Cup O Noodles Lab Report
Cup o’ Noodles: Through the Eyes of a Chemist
Background: Before completing this experiment, one must know about chemical formulas, ionic bonding, solutions and moles to understand the results of this experiment. A chemical formula is the symbol for compounds and elements. It tells chemists how many atoms are in a chemical compound, formula unit or molecular compound. In a chemical formula a subscript indicates how many atoms there are of an element before it. The coefficient in a chemical formula indicates how many molecules of the formula unit, or chemical compound. The chemical formulas we use in this experiment are NaCl (sodium chloride/salt), KCl (potassium chloride), and CsCl (cesium chloride) and CaCl2 (calcium chloride). To form …show more content…
these chemical formulas you find the symbols and the charges. The positive charge (cation) comes first followed by the negative charged ion (anion). Then you must check that the charges are balanced (these all were except cesium chloride). If they are not balanced, you must add ions until the charges are equal.
In this experiment, we only use ionic bonds. There are also two main types of chemical bonding: ionic and covalent. Ionic bonding is caused by the attraction between anions and cations. An anion is a negatively charged ion, while a cation is a positively charged ion. Ions are formed when an element loses or gains an electron. Atoms in the alkaline metals, alkaline-earth metals and the boron family will lose atoms because it takes less energy to lose 1, 2 or 3 valence electrons respectively than gain 7, 6 or 5 valence electrons respectively. These elements will form cations with a positive charge. However, in the nitrogen, oxygen and halogen families, atoms will gain electrons because they have 5, 6, or 7 valence electrons respectively, because it is easier to gain 3, 2 or 1 valence electrons than lose 5, 6 or 7 respectively. Once the anions and cations are formed, their charges are attracted, forming an ionic bond. Ionic bonds charges must be balanced, so subscripts are often added in the chemical formula. Ionic bonds also have many properties that are relevant to our experiment. Most ionic bonded compounds dissolve in water and then are able to conduct electricity (like salt). A
solution is a type of mixture that is homogenous. A mixture is a combination of two or more chemicals in a certain proportion. A homogenous mixture or a solution is a mixture in which the ratio of all the chemicals is the same. A mole is a counting unit, similar to “dozen.” Chemists use moles to count things in very large quantities, generally atoms. The number of a mole is based off of carbon-12. A mole is equivalent to 12 grams of carbon-12: Avogadro came up with the number representation of a mole at 6.02 x 10(23 power). In this experiment we will use chemical formulas and moles to determine the number of atoms used in the solutions to be tested.
Purpose: By completing this lab, we were trying to combine our previous knowledge of chemistry to explain why Cup o’ Noodles conducted electricity. By testing NaCl’s conductivity, we have data that can be used to predict the amount of salt in Cup o’ Noodles. We also test if it is better to measure materials in equal grams or equal moles to eliminate more than one variable. We also tested to see which salt conducted electricity most effectively: sodium chloride, cesium chloride, calcium chloride or potassium chloride.
Hypothesis:
1. If more sodium chloride solution is added, then the conductivity will increase, because, salt is an ionic compound and will dissolve in the water. Once it dissolves with water, the more molecules added, the more ions there will be for conduction.
2. If the same amount of cesium chloride solution is added as sodium chloride, then the results will be very similar because they are both alkaline metals bonding with chlorine, so they should have similar properties.
3. If the same amount of potassium chloride solution is added as the sodium chloride solution in moles, not grams, then the result should be similar to sodium chloride, because they are both part of the alkaline metals family and should have similar results.
4. If the same amount of calcium chloride solution (in moles) is added as the sodium chloride solution, then the conductivity should higher that of sodium chloride’s, because there are three atoms in CaCl2 opposed to two atoms in NaCl, so there will be more ions to conduct.
Procedure:
Part One:
1. Safety First: Work as a team with four to five people per lab station. Be gentle with all equipment. Be careful for chords in water, make sure there is a wet vs. dry area. Wear eye-protection at all times.
2. Open your logger pro box and then set the box under your computer incase of a spill.
3. Turn your computer on.
4. To use your logger pro, you must plug it into the computer and the probe and ensure all settings are correct. First plug the probe into channel one on the upper left hand side of the logger pro. Make sure that the switch on the box part of the probe chord is toggled to the 0-20,000 range.
5. Then use the USB cord to plug into the computer and the right hand side of the logger pro.
6. Then plug in the power cord to the small space on the bottom left hand side of the logger pro.
7. Open logger pro; you should see a graph.
8. Click on File, then open, then Chem w/ Vernier #14
9. A box will pop up and click use senor setting.
10. On the y-axis of your chart, change 2,000 to 10,000.
11. Carefully measure 100mL of deionized water in a graduated cylinder. Find a 250 mL beaker and make sure it is completely dry. Then pour the water from the cylinder to the beaker.
12. Place your probe from the beaker into the water.
13. Press collect, to get a base reading for the conductivity of water.
14. Press keep and enter 0.
15. To make the salt-water solution, carefully measure out 5.85 grams of salt using the scale. Transfer the salt (sodium chloride) to a flask and add small amounts of deionized water. Swirl after every time of adding deionized water. Stop once you add 100 mL to water. Add one drop of food coloring.
16. Drop in one mL of food dye salt solution.
17. Stir the solution with the probe and once the numbers settle, press keep and enter 1.
18. Repeat steps 15 and 16 four more times, changing the ‘enter 1’ to ‘enter 2, 3, 4, 5’ respectively.
19. Press the stop buttons to end this line.
20. Press collect again to create another line.
21. Clean-Up lab table. Rinse all glassware with deionized water.
Part 2:
1. Steps 1-18 as a control.
2. Repeat steps 1-14 from procedure 1.
3. To make the CsCl-water solution, carefully measure out 5.85 grams of CsCl using the scale. Transfer the CsCl to a flask and add small amounts of deionized water. Swirl after every time of adding deionized water. Stop once you add 100 mL of deionized water. Add one drop of food coloring.
4. Repeat steps 16-21 using the CsCl-water solution.
Part 3:
1. Steps 1-18 as a control.
2. Repeat steps 1-14 from procedure 1.
3. To make the KCl-water solution, carefully measure out 5.85 grams of KCl using the scale. Transfer the KCl to a flask and add small amounts of deionized water. Swirl after every time of adding deionized water. Stop once you add 100 mL of deionized water. Add one drop of food coloring.
4. Repeat steps 16-20 using the KCl-water solution
5. Repeat steps 1-14 from procedure 1.
6. To make the KCl-water solution, we will use moles, instead of grams to be more fair, since KCl and NaCl have different weights. Using Dimensional analysis find out how many moles are in 5.85 grams of NaCl. Our math showed 0.1 moles. Then, find out how many grams are in 0.1 mol of KCl. We decided 7.455 grams KCl.
7. Carefully measure out 7.455 grams of KCl using the scale. Transfer the salt (sodium chloride) to a flask and add small amounts of water. Swirl after every time of adding water. Stop once you add 100 mL to water. Add one drop of food coloring.
8. Repeat steps 16-21 using the KCl-water solution, you just made.
Part 4:
1. Steps 1-18 as a control.
2. Repeat steps 1-14 from procedure 1.
3. To make the CaCl2-water solution, we will use moles, instead of grams to be more fair, since CaCl2 and NaCl have different weights. Using Dimensional analysis find out how many moles are in 5.85 grams of NaCl. Our math showed 0.1 moles. Then, find out how many grams are in 0.1 mol of CaCl2. We decided there are 11.098 grams of CaCl2 in 0.1 mol of CaCl2.
4. Carefully measure out 7.455 grams of KCl using the scale. Transfer the salt (sodium chloride) to a flask and add small amounts of water. Swirl after every time of adding water. Stop once you add 100 mL to water. Add one drop of food coloring.
5. Repeat steps 16-21 using the CaCl2-water solution, you just made.
Set-Up:
Data:
Number of Drops: NaCl (5.85g) Conductivity: CsCl (5.85g) Conductivity: KCl (7.455g)
Conductivity: CaCl2 (11.098g)
Conductivity:
0 39/32/33 39 33 32
1 1344/1464/1428 549 1360 2565
2 2651/2762/2741 1080 2624 4761
3 3985/3970/3955 1581 3833 6801
4 5082/5116/5106 2098 4961 8697
5 6213/6220/6204 2876 6057 10307
This is a chart of our results the far left hand side is the number of drops. The other categories are the results form our experiment. The results from the NaCl are the control. We tested salt three times so there are three numbers in each box. The variables in this experiment were only supposed to be the type of chemical used, but in the first experiment it was also how much of the chemical was used. In part one of the experiments, we measured the data using grams, but that wasn’t a good way of measuring, since each molecule had a different weight. During parts 2-4 we measured 0.1 of each substance and used the gram equivalent.
Data Analysis:
Part 1: The line for salt increases because the more salt molecules added, the more ions in the solution. Since salt has an ionic bond, it dissolves in water to produce electricity. Once in water, the ions break apart and then are able to conduct. If more ions are in the water (more salt), then more electricity will be able to be produced.
More Salt Particles:
Part 2: The line for CsCl was much lower than the line for salt. This was because we didn’t use equivalent amounts of each atom. Although we measured the same amount of each – 5.85 grams, CsCl is much heavier than NaCl. NaCl has an atomic mass of 58.45 amu, while CsCl has an atomic mass of 168.36. The solutions were in fact not equal at all:
5.58g NaCl x 1 mol x 6.02x10(23power) = 6.03x10(22power) 58.44g 1 mol
5.58g CsCl x 1 mol x 6.02x10(23power) = 2.09x10(22power) 168.36g 1 mol
This was not an accurate representation of CsCl’s conductivity since NaCl had three times the amount of particles CsCl had.
Part 3: The lines for KCl and NaCl were almost identical with KCl slightly below NaCl, when they both used moles. The lines were so similar because potassium and sodium are in the same family and both of these bonds are ionic so they have the same properties. Here are my equations to know how much KCl to use, to do an equal experiment:
5.585g NaCl x 1 mol = 0.1 mol NaCl 58.44g
0.1 mol KCl x 74.55 g = 7.455g KCl 1 mol
I first found out that 5.85 grams of NaCl is equal to 0.1 mol. I used 0.1 mol to find out how many grams of KCl to use: 7.455 g. This way they used an even amount of particles: 0.1mol.
Picture of Uneven Size, but Even Number of Particles:
Part 4: When we used equal moles to compare NaCl and CaCl2, the results were very different. Calcium chloride was much more conductive. Here is the calculation for cesium chloride:
5.585g NaCl x 1 mol = 0.1 mol NaCl 58.44g
0.1 mol CaCl2 x 110.98 g = 11.098 g CaCl2 1 mol
This shows that conductivity is based on the number of ions and not the number of formula units, calcium chloride had three ions, while sodium chloride had two ions. Although their formula units were equivalent, since sodium chloride only had two ions, calcium chloride was much more conductive. In fact calcium chloride was about one third more conductive than sodium chloride.
1 mol NaCl x 6.02x10(23power) x 2 atoms = 1.204x10(24power) 1 mol
1 mol CaCl3 x 6.02x10(23power) x 3 atoms =1.806x10(24power) 1 mol
Beaker Diagram:
Conclusion: My first hypothesis was correct, because the data showed the line rising. This went along with my support that the more ions in the water, the more conductivity. My second hypothesis was not correct. This is because we had two variables: different compounds and different amounts of them. My third hypothesis was correct: sodium and cesium have very similar properties and the results showed it. My fourth hypothesis was also correct because I predicted from previous results that the more ions in a substance, the more conductivity. My equations above show how calcium chloride with 3 atoms is more conductive than sodium chloride with 2 atoms. The purpose of the lab was partially accomplished. We learned a lot about ionic bonds and chemistry. However, we didn’t find out how much salt was in Cup o’ Noodles. So about half of our purpose was accomplished. Our sources of error were probably mostly human error. I was the “dropper” for most of the time, so I probably didn’t get exactly one mL of solution every time. We didn’t have any problems with our computer, so the errors were probably made earlier in the process. The lines all have a fairly consistent slope. Eventually the line would flatten out, when there is more salt that water or when there is too much salt to be absorbed into the water. We could improve our results by redoing the lab and making sure that our results weren’t skewed. We could also try to use micropipettes to measure the solution, because it was very hard to be accurate and precise. We could use these skills to get the amount of salt in Cup o’ Noodles. We would get the conductivity and plug it into your line or guess and check to see how much salt you need to get the same conductivity. A standard curve “represent(s) the relationship between two quantities.” They are often used “to determine the value of an unknown quantity from one that is more easily measured” (http://biology.kenyon.edu/). We could easily use standard curves to find out how much salt is in Cup o’ Noodles.
Group Evaluation: We had a very productive group in which everyone completed their job timely. We switched jobs, but only once or twice. Everyone contributed equally when they were there, but we had lots of absences. I would divide the work up like we did this time the same way if we did it again. We definitely had our patience tested because we put in too much water multiple times with the calcium chloride. We persevered and figured it out. It was also hard because we had at least one absence a day and Kasey and I were new to the group since we float in between groups. We also got a lot faster throughout the experiment because of practice.
Bibliography: http://biology.kenyon.edu/courses/biol09/standard%20curve/intro.htm
Background: Before completing this experiment, one must know about chemical formulas, ionic bonding, solutions and moles to understand the results of this experiment. A chemical formula is the symbol for compounds and elements. It tells chemists how many atoms are in a chemical compound, formula unit or molecular compound. In a chemical formula a subscript indicates how many atoms there are of an element before it. The coefficient in a chemical formula indicates how many molecules of the formula unit, or chemical compound. The chemical formulas we use in this experiment are NaCl (sodium chloride/salt), KCl (potassium chloride), and CsCl (cesium chloride) and CaCl2 (calcium chloride). To form …show more content…
these chemical formulas you find the symbols and the charges. The positive charge (cation) comes first followed by the negative charged ion (anion). Then you must check that the charges are balanced (these all were except cesium chloride). If they are not balanced, you must add ions until the charges are equal.
In this experiment, we only use ionic bonds. There are also two main types of chemical bonding: ionic and covalent. Ionic bonding is caused by the attraction between anions and cations. An anion is a negatively charged ion, while a cation is a positively charged ion. Ions are formed when an element loses or gains an electron. Atoms in the alkaline metals, alkaline-earth metals and the boron family will lose atoms because it takes less energy to lose 1, 2 or 3 valence electrons respectively than gain 7, 6 or 5 valence electrons respectively. These elements will form cations with a positive charge. However, in the nitrogen, oxygen and halogen families, atoms will gain electrons because they have 5, 6, or 7 valence electrons respectively, because it is easier to gain 3, 2 or 1 valence electrons than lose 5, 6 or 7 respectively. Once the anions and cations are formed, their charges are attracted, forming an ionic bond. Ionic bonds charges must be balanced, so subscripts are often added in the chemical formula. Ionic bonds also have many properties that are relevant to our experiment. Most ionic bonded compounds dissolve in water and then are able to conduct electricity (like salt). A
solution is a type of mixture that is homogenous. A mixture is a combination of two or more chemicals in a certain proportion. A homogenous mixture or a solution is a mixture in which the ratio of all the chemicals is the same. A mole is a counting unit, similar to “dozen.” Chemists use moles to count things in very large quantities, generally atoms. The number of a mole is based off of carbon-12. A mole is equivalent to 12 grams of carbon-12: Avogadro came up with the number representation of a mole at 6.02 x 10(23 power). In this experiment we will use chemical formulas and moles to determine the number of atoms used in the solutions to be tested.
Purpose: By completing this lab, we were trying to combine our previous knowledge of chemistry to explain why Cup o’ Noodles conducted electricity. By testing NaCl’s conductivity, we have data that can be used to predict the amount of salt in Cup o’ Noodles. We also test if it is better to measure materials in equal grams or equal moles to eliminate more than one variable. We also tested to see which salt conducted electricity most effectively: sodium chloride, cesium chloride, calcium chloride or potassium chloride.
Hypothesis:
1. If more sodium chloride solution is added, then the conductivity will increase, because, salt is an ionic compound and will dissolve in the water. Once it dissolves with water, the more molecules added, the more ions there will be for conduction.
2. If the same amount of cesium chloride solution is added as sodium chloride, then the results will be very similar because they are both alkaline metals bonding with chlorine, so they should have similar properties.
3. If the same amount of potassium chloride solution is added as the sodium chloride solution in moles, not grams, then the result should be similar to sodium chloride, because they are both part of the alkaline metals family and should have similar results.
4. If the same amount of calcium chloride solution (in moles) is added as the sodium chloride solution, then the conductivity should higher that of sodium chloride’s, because there are three atoms in CaCl2 opposed to two atoms in NaCl, so there will be more ions to conduct.
Procedure:
Part One:
1. Safety First: Work as a team with four to five people per lab station. Be gentle with all equipment. Be careful for chords in water, make sure there is a wet vs. dry area. Wear eye-protection at all times.
2. Open your logger pro box and then set the box under your computer incase of a spill.
3. Turn your computer on.
4. To use your logger pro, you must plug it into the computer and the probe and ensure all settings are correct. First plug the probe into channel one on the upper left hand side of the logger pro. Make sure that the switch on the box part of the probe chord is toggled to the 0-20,000 range.
5. Then use the USB cord to plug into the computer and the right hand side of the logger pro.
6. Then plug in the power cord to the small space on the bottom left hand side of the logger pro.
7. Open logger pro; you should see a graph.
8. Click on File, then open, then Chem w/ Vernier #14
9. A box will pop up and click use senor setting.
10. On the y-axis of your chart, change 2,000 to 10,000.
11. Carefully measure 100mL of deionized water in a graduated cylinder. Find a 250 mL beaker and make sure it is completely dry. Then pour the water from the cylinder to the beaker.
12. Place your probe from the beaker into the water.
13. Press collect, to get a base reading for the conductivity of water.
14. Press keep and enter 0.
15. To make the salt-water solution, carefully measure out 5.85 grams of salt using the scale. Transfer the salt (sodium chloride) to a flask and add small amounts of deionized water. Swirl after every time of adding deionized water. Stop once you add 100 mL to water. Add one drop of food coloring.
16. Drop in one mL of food dye salt solution.
17. Stir the solution with the probe and once the numbers settle, press keep and enter 1.
18. Repeat steps 15 and 16 four more times, changing the ‘enter 1’ to ‘enter 2, 3, 4, 5’ respectively.
19. Press the stop buttons to end this line.
20. Press collect again to create another line.
21. Clean-Up lab table. Rinse all glassware with deionized water.
Part 2:
1. Steps 1-18 as a control.
2. Repeat steps 1-14 from procedure 1.
3. To make the CsCl-water solution, carefully measure out 5.85 grams of CsCl using the scale. Transfer the CsCl to a flask and add small amounts of deionized water. Swirl after every time of adding deionized water. Stop once you add 100 mL of deionized water. Add one drop of food coloring.
4. Repeat steps 16-21 using the CsCl-water solution.
Part 3:
1. Steps 1-18 as a control.
2. Repeat steps 1-14 from procedure 1.
3. To make the KCl-water solution, carefully measure out 5.85 grams of KCl using the scale. Transfer the KCl to a flask and add small amounts of deionized water. Swirl after every time of adding deionized water. Stop once you add 100 mL of deionized water. Add one drop of food coloring.
4. Repeat steps 16-20 using the KCl-water solution
5. Repeat steps 1-14 from procedure 1.
6. To make the KCl-water solution, we will use moles, instead of grams to be more fair, since KCl and NaCl have different weights. Using Dimensional analysis find out how many moles are in 5.85 grams of NaCl. Our math showed 0.1 moles. Then, find out how many grams are in 0.1 mol of KCl. We decided 7.455 grams KCl.
7. Carefully measure out 7.455 grams of KCl using the scale. Transfer the salt (sodium chloride) to a flask and add small amounts of water. Swirl after every time of adding water. Stop once you add 100 mL to water. Add one drop of food coloring.
8. Repeat steps 16-21 using the KCl-water solution, you just made.
Part 4:
1. Steps 1-18 as a control.
2. Repeat steps 1-14 from procedure 1.
3. To make the CaCl2-water solution, we will use moles, instead of grams to be more fair, since CaCl2 and NaCl have different weights. Using Dimensional analysis find out how many moles are in 5.85 grams of NaCl. Our math showed 0.1 moles. Then, find out how many grams are in 0.1 mol of CaCl2. We decided there are 11.098 grams of CaCl2 in 0.1 mol of CaCl2.
4. Carefully measure out 7.455 grams of KCl using the scale. Transfer the salt (sodium chloride) to a flask and add small amounts of water. Swirl after every time of adding water. Stop once you add 100 mL to water. Add one drop of food coloring.
5. Repeat steps 16-21 using the CaCl2-water solution, you just made.
Set-Up:
Data:
Number of Drops: NaCl (5.85g) Conductivity: CsCl (5.85g) Conductivity: KCl (7.455g)
Conductivity: CaCl2 (11.098g)
Conductivity:
0 39/32/33 39 33 32
1 1344/1464/1428 549 1360 2565
2 2651/2762/2741 1080 2624 4761
3 3985/3970/3955 1581 3833 6801
4 5082/5116/5106 2098 4961 8697
5 6213/6220/6204 2876 6057 10307
This is a chart of our results the far left hand side is the number of drops. The other categories are the results form our experiment. The results from the NaCl are the control. We tested salt three times so there are three numbers in each box. The variables in this experiment were only supposed to be the type of chemical used, but in the first experiment it was also how much of the chemical was used. In part one of the experiments, we measured the data using grams, but that wasn’t a good way of measuring, since each molecule had a different weight. During parts 2-4 we measured 0.1 of each substance and used the gram equivalent.
Data Analysis:
Part 1: The line for salt increases because the more salt molecules added, the more ions in the solution. Since salt has an ionic bond, it dissolves in water to produce electricity. Once in water, the ions break apart and then are able to conduct. If more ions are in the water (more salt), then more electricity will be able to be produced.
More Salt Particles:
Part 2: The line for CsCl was much lower than the line for salt. This was because we didn’t use equivalent amounts of each atom. Although we measured the same amount of each – 5.85 grams, CsCl is much heavier than NaCl. NaCl has an atomic mass of 58.45 amu, while CsCl has an atomic mass of 168.36. The solutions were in fact not equal at all:
5.58g NaCl x 1 mol x 6.02x10(23power) = 6.03x10(22power) 58.44g 1 mol
5.58g CsCl x 1 mol x 6.02x10(23power) = 2.09x10(22power) 168.36g 1 mol
This was not an accurate representation of CsCl’s conductivity since NaCl had three times the amount of particles CsCl had.
Part 3: The lines for KCl and NaCl were almost identical with KCl slightly below NaCl, when they both used moles. The lines were so similar because potassium and sodium are in the same family and both of these bonds are ionic so they have the same properties. Here are my equations to know how much KCl to use, to do an equal experiment:
5.585g NaCl x 1 mol = 0.1 mol NaCl 58.44g
0.1 mol KCl x 74.55 g = 7.455g KCl 1 mol
I first found out that 5.85 grams of NaCl is equal to 0.1 mol. I used 0.1 mol to find out how many grams of KCl to use: 7.455 g. This way they used an even amount of particles: 0.1mol.
Picture of Uneven Size, but Even Number of Particles:
Part 4: When we used equal moles to compare NaCl and CaCl2, the results were very different. Calcium chloride was much more conductive. Here is the calculation for cesium chloride:
5.585g NaCl x 1 mol = 0.1 mol NaCl 58.44g
0.1 mol CaCl2 x 110.98 g = 11.098 g CaCl2 1 mol
This shows that conductivity is based on the number of ions and not the number of formula units, calcium chloride had three ions, while sodium chloride had two ions. Although their formula units were equivalent, since sodium chloride only had two ions, calcium chloride was much more conductive. In fact calcium chloride was about one third more conductive than sodium chloride.
1 mol NaCl x 6.02x10(23power) x 2 atoms = 1.204x10(24power) 1 mol
1 mol CaCl3 x 6.02x10(23power) x 3 atoms =1.806x10(24power) 1 mol
Beaker Diagram:
Conclusion: My first hypothesis was correct, because the data showed the line rising. This went along with my support that the more ions in the water, the more conductivity. My second hypothesis was not correct. This is because we had two variables: different compounds and different amounts of them. My third hypothesis was correct: sodium and cesium have very similar properties and the results showed it. My fourth hypothesis was also correct because I predicted from previous results that the more ions in a substance, the more conductivity. My equations above show how calcium chloride with 3 atoms is more conductive than sodium chloride with 2 atoms. The purpose of the lab was partially accomplished. We learned a lot about ionic bonds and chemistry. However, we didn’t find out how much salt was in Cup o’ Noodles. So about half of our purpose was accomplished. Our sources of error were probably mostly human error. I was the “dropper” for most of the time, so I probably didn’t get exactly one mL of solution every time. We didn’t have any problems with our computer, so the errors were probably made earlier in the process. The lines all have a fairly consistent slope. Eventually the line would flatten out, when there is more salt that water or when there is too much salt to be absorbed into the water. We could improve our results by redoing the lab and making sure that our results weren’t skewed. We could also try to use micropipettes to measure the solution, because it was very hard to be accurate and precise. We could use these skills to get the amount of salt in Cup o’ Noodles. We would get the conductivity and plug it into your line or guess and check to see how much salt you need to get the same conductivity. A standard curve “represent(s) the relationship between two quantities.” They are often used “to determine the value of an unknown quantity from one that is more easily measured” (http://biology.kenyon.edu/). We could easily use standard curves to find out how much salt is in Cup o’ Noodles.
Group Evaluation: We had a very productive group in which everyone completed their job timely. We switched jobs, but only once or twice. Everyone contributed equally when they were there, but we had lots of absences. I would divide the work up like we did this time the same way if we did it again. We definitely had our patience tested because we put in too much water multiple times with the calcium chloride. We persevered and figured it out. It was also hard because we had at least one absence a day and Kasey and I were new to the group since we float in between groups. We also got a lot faster throughout the experiment because of practice.
Bibliography: http://biology.kenyon.edu/courses/biol09/standard%20curve/intro.htm