Designing an Experiment to Measure Vitamin C Content in Fruit Juices
The experiment is trying to determine how much of a solution containing vitamin C is required to be added to 1 cm3 of blue chemical to change its colour from blue to clear. The experiment users an new and old lemon, orange and blackcurrant juice, each with varying amounts of vitamin C content.
Each experiment has independent and dependent variables. The solutions of soft drinks contain different levels of vitamin C (with old and new varieties) will be the independent variables in the experiment as the vitamin C content is unknown. The dependent variable is the measureable amount of each of these drinks solutions that is required to decolourise a known amount of blue dye.
As there are pairs of fruit juice solutions being measured it is possible to compare one against the other. It is also necessary to repeat each cycle of the experiment to minimise any variances in the solutions being tested. It is also possible to carry out the experiment with a solution containing a known concentration of vitamin C. This can be seen as a control for the experiment and can be used to check the reliability and accuracy of the experiment method. It is also important to be able to accurately measure the amounts of solutions being used each time using appropriate apparatus.
Counting droplets from a pipette is a fairly rudimentary way of calculating how much of the vitamin solution has been added to the dye. It would also be possible to use burettes for dispensing and measuring the amount of fruit juice added to the dye. Repeating the experiment a number of times will also help to ensure that the results are fairly consistent, reliable and replicable.
A number of repeat cycles of experiments will be required for each vitamin C solution which can be averaged to give a mean calculation of amount required of the given solution to turn the dye blue. At least three repeated experiments will be undertaken for each solution but more could be carried out if required. As there
Each experiment has independent and dependent variables. The solutions of soft drinks contain different levels of vitamin C (with old and new varieties) will be the independent variables in the experiment as the vitamin C content is unknown. The dependent variable is the measureable amount of each of these drinks solutions that is required to decolourise a known amount of blue dye.
As there are pairs of fruit juice solutions being measured it is possible to compare one against the other. It is also necessary to repeat each cycle of the experiment to minimise any variances in the solutions being tested. It is also possible to carry out the experiment with a solution containing a known concentration of vitamin C. This can be seen as a control for the experiment and can be used to check the reliability and accuracy of the experiment method. It is also important to be able to accurately measure the amounts of solutions being used each time using appropriate apparatus.
Counting droplets from a pipette is a fairly rudimentary way of calculating how much of the vitamin solution has been added to the dye. It would also be possible to use burettes for dispensing and measuring the amount of fruit juice added to the dye. Repeating the experiment a number of times will also help to ensure that the results are fairly consistent, reliable and replicable.
A number of repeat cycles of experiments will be required for each vitamin C solution which can be averaged to give a mean calculation of amount required of the given solution to turn the dye blue. At least three repeated experiments will be undertaken for each solution but more could be carried out if required. As there
Cited: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002404.htmhttp://www.naturalhub.com/natural_food_guide_fruit_vitamin_c.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burette