Friday 24 June 2011

Final experiment - 1st experimental plan

1. What do you want to find out? (Aim/Purpose/Research question)
The best way to store orange juice so as to minimize the degradation of vitamin C.

2. What is the tentative explanation of your research question? (Hypothesis)
It is best to store orange juice without exposure to the surrounding air and in cold temperatures to minimize the degradation of vitamin C.

3. In an investigation, there is only one variable to be changed. Which variable will you change in this investigation? (Independent variable)
Exposure of the orange juice and temperature of which the orange juice is kept at.

4. All the other variables must be kept constant. What are a few important variables that will affect the results greatly? (Constant variables)
- Type of orange juice
- Amount of orange juice
- Duration of experiment
- Material of container
- Size of container

5. What results will you measure? (Dependant variable)
The pH level of the orange juice.

6. What are the materials and apparatus that you will need to carry out the investigation? (Materials and apparatus)
- Freshly squeezed orange juice
- 4 plastic cups
- Aluminum foil
- Cling wrap
- Data logger with pH probe

7. What are the steps that you will take to carry out the investigation? (Procedure)
Step 1: Squeeze fresh orange juice, enough to fill 2 whole cups.
Step 2: Take initial pH level of orange juice and record it down.
Step 3: Pour orange juice equally into 4 plastic cups.
Step 4: Immediately cover the top of 2 cups with aluminum foil and cling wrap, and leave the other 2 cups uncovered.
Step 5: Put 1 covered cup and 1 exposed cup of orange juice in the fridge, and 1 covered cup and 1 exposed cup outside in room temperature.
Step 6: Leave setups at their respective places for 3 hours and record the pH level of the samples every 15 minutes with the help of the data logger and pH probe.
Step 7: Construct a table for each set of data and then plot separate graphs of pH level against time.
Step 8: Repeat entire experiment once more.

8. How are data collected? (Data collection)
Data is collected with the data logger and pH probe. This device records the pH level of the orange juice at my chosen time and allows me to see the change in pH of the orange juice samples. By observing the pH change in the juice, I am then able to determine which condition best allows the retention of vitamin C, as vitamin C is ascorbic acid. The increase in pH level of the juice samples – both covered and not covered, in cooler or warmer temperatures over time will show me how fast the vitamin C in each sample of orange juice is degrading. The orange juice samples that are covered will have less exposure to air while the samples that are not covered are constantly exposed to air, and the juice samples in the fridge would be experiencing lower temperature while the samples outside in room temperature would be in higher temperature throughout the entire duration of my experiment. This will then allow me to prove or disprove my hypothesis that it is best to store orange juice without exposure to the surrounding air and in cold temperatures to minimize the degradation of the vitamin C content.

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