Determining the Sugar content of Common drinks

Experimental Problem
Determine the sugar content of common drinks.
Educational Purpose
To introduce standard solutions
Graphing in Excel
Tutorials
Using the Adjustable micro Pipet
Using an Analytical Balance
What to Turn In
1. The prelab and the postlab
Background: The name "SODA" was coined in the early nineteenth century, but
the product's true beginnings go back several centuries to biblical times when
bubbling waters from natural springs were a much sought after delight. The first
recorded history leading up to our modern soft drinks began with the discovery of
natural mineral waters created by the flow of water through rocks and soil where
mineral salts are dissolved. The exact date of the discovery by man is unknown,
but as early as 400 B C, the Greek physician Hyprocrites wrote a book enticed,
"Airs, Waters, and Places".
As the Roman Empire expanded, many of the renowned springs of England,
Germany, Belgium, and Italy were touted for their miracle medicinal cures, and
promotion of good health. For centuries, early scientists, especially in Europe,

attempted duplication of the effervescent quality found in naturally carbonated

waters.
Coca Cola, Pepsi energy drinks and Red Bull are some of the usual drinks
consumed by the today and are also important beverages at parties. While some of
these contain caffeine and others not, all of them contain sugar. Even though the
taste of these carbonated drinks are delectable, drinking a few of these drinks a day
can lead to a large intake of sugar which is deleterious in time. Consuming excess
sugar can lead to many conditions that are difficult to control. Death by sugar may
not be an overstatementevidence is mounting that sugar is THE MAJOR
FACTOR causing obesity and chronic disease. Science has now shown us, beyond
any shadow of a doubt, that sugar in your food, in all its myriad of forms, is taking
a devastating toll on your health. 1 teaspoon of sugar (4.2g) contains 16 calories
and provides 20 kcal of energy. In an article written by John Cassone, he details
the step by step process of how our bodies react to sugar. This is what happens to
your

body

within

one

hour

of

drinking

can

of

soda.

10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system, which is 100 percent of your
recommended daily intake. You'd normally vomit from such an intake, but the
phosphoric

acid

cuts

the

flavor.

20 minutes: Your blood sugar skyrockets. Your pancreas attempts to maximize

insulin

production

in

order to

turn

high

levels

of

sugar into

fat.

40 minutes: As your body finishes absorbing the caffeine, your pupils dilate, your
blood pressure rises, and your liver pumps more sugar into the bloodstream.
Adenosine receptors in your brain are blocked preventing you from feeling how
tired

you

may

actually

be.

45 minutes: Your body increases dopamine production, causing you to feel

pleasure and adding to the addictiveness of the beverage. This physical neuro
response works the same way as it would if we were consumingheroin.

60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower
intestine, which boosts your metabolism a bit further. High doses of sugar and
artificial sweeteners compound this effect, increasing the urinary excretion of
calcium. The caffeines diuretic properties come into play. (You have to GO!)
Your body will eliminate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was
otherwise heading to your bones. And you will also flush out the sodium,
electrolytes and water. Your body has eliminated the water that was in the soda.
And in the process it was infused with nutrients and minerals your body would
have otherwise used to hydrate your system or build body cells, bones, teeth.
The sugar crash begins. You may become irritable and/or sluggish.

This can also easily cause obesity. Carrying excess weight increases risks for
deadly conditions such as heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes and all of
these diseases are on the rise.
Soda, which is loaded with sugar primarily in the form of high fructose corn syrup,
is a leading contributor to the rising rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and
other chronic diseases facing Americans.
So when it is said that drinking a can of soda is just as bad for you as smoking a
cigarette (and maybe even worse) it is not an exaggeration.
Drinking soda is in many ways worse for you than smoking, and it is only because
of massive marketing campaigns from the industry that these sugary beverages are
deemed acceptable for our most vulnerable members of society our children.
Fructose is also a likely culprit behind the millions of U.S. children struggling with
non-alcoholic liver disease, which is caused by a build-up of fat within liver cells.
Fructose is very hard on your liver, in much the same way as drinking alcohol.

Liver burden number one: After eating fructose, 100 percent of the
metabolic burden rests on your liverONLY your liver can break it down.
This is much different than consuming glucose, in which your liver has to
break down only 20 percent, and the remaining 80 percent is immediately
metabolized and used by the rest of the cells in your body.

Liver burden number two: Fructose is converted into fat that gets stored in
your liver and other tissues as body fat. Part of what makes fructose so bad
for your health is that it is metabolized to fat in your body far more rapidly
than any other sugar. For example, if you eat 120 calories of fructose, 40
calories are stored as fat. But if you eat the same amount of glucose, less
than one calorie gets stored as fat. Consuming fructose is essentially
consuming fat!

Fructose metabolism is very similar to the way alcohol is metabolized, which has a
multitude of toxic metabolites that, if consumed in excess, can lead to nonalcoholic liver disease. For a complete discussion of fructose metabolism, see the
comprehensive article about this.
Diet Soda is Not a Safe Alternative to Regular Soda
If you think youre better off drinking diet soda, think again. In fact, if a choice
exists between the two take regular soda over diet. Instead of fructose, diet soda
contains artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame or sucralose (Splenda). With all
the research now available on aspartame and its various ingredients, its hard to
believe such a chemical would even be allowed into the food supply, but it is, and
its been silently wreaking havoc with peoples health for the past 30 years.
Just to refresh your memory, aspartame has been linked to the following health
concerns, and Splenda is associated with many similar problems:

Lymphomas, leukemias, and brain cancer

Asthma

Neurological symptoms including headaches, depressed and anxious mood,

seizures, memory loss, hallucinations, and dizziness

Visual changes

Weakness and fatigue

Joint pain

Sleep disorders

Weight gain and diabetes

Abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea

Rashes and hives

In this experiment we shall undertake to determine % concentration of sugar in the

more usual drinks by determining the density of the solution. Concentration may
be determined in many different ways. In the area of chemistry the unit of molarity
is encountered most often but concentration may be expressed as %(w/w), %(w/v)
and %(v/v).
If the mixture is composed of solids only then the unit %(w/w) is used, if the
mixture is a solid dissolved in a fluid the units %(w/v) is used while if the mixture
is composed of two liquids then the unit %(v/v) is used. Molarity is a special case
of expressing the concentration; to find the molarity, moles of solute contained in
1000 mL of solvent is required.

Example 1

What unit would be used to express the concentration of a mixture of

flour and sugar?

Answer: %(w/w)

What unit would be used to express the concentration of a mixture of

sugar in water?

Answer: %(w/v)

What unit would be used to express the concentration of a mixture of

alcohol in water?
Answer: %(v/v)

Example 2 A mixture consists of 35g sugar, 15g sand and 17g salt.
What unit would be used to express the concentration of sugar, sand
and salt. Find the concentration of each in the mixture.
--Since all three components are solids, the best measure to express
the concentration is %(w/w)
%(w/w)sugar =
=

%(w/w)sand =

%(w/w)salt
=

100% x
100% (35g/ 67g) = 52.24%

100% x

100% (15g/ 67g) = 22.39%

100% x

100% (17g/ 67g) = 25.37%

Notice when the factor-label method of doing calculations is used; the units of g
cancel each other out so that all is left is the unit of % to define the amount of each
component and that the total amount is 100% as is expected.
In this experiment you will encounter a term, standard solution. This term, in

chemistry has a definite meaning. In analytical chemistry, a standard solution is a

solution containing a precisely known concentration of an element or a substance
i.e., a known weight of solute is dissolved to make a specific volume. It is prepared
using a standard substance, such as a primary standard. Standard solutions are used
to determine the concentrations of other substances, such as solutions in titrations.
The concentrations of standard solutions are normally expressed in units of moles
per litre (mol/L, often abbreviated to M for molarity), moles per cubic decimetre
(mol/dm3), kilomoles per cubic metre (kmol/m3) or in terms related to those used
in particular titrations (such as titres).

Prelab
1. Calculate the %w/v of a 250 mL solution of NaCl containing 5g of NaCl.
2.10.00g BaCl2 is dissolved in 90.00g of water. The density of the solution is
1.09 g/mL. Calculate the %w/v of the solution.
3. A sample of 0.892 g of potassium chloride (KCl) is dissolved in 54.6 g of water.
What is the % by mass of KCl in this solution?
4. If a mixture contains 20% ethanol in water and the mixing results in a total
volume decrease of 2mL because of intermolecular interaction, what is the %(v/v)
of this solution?

Procedure

Work in groups of 5 students per group.

Each student works on one standard solution and shares the result with the group.
All students take a reading of the unknown solution.
The

standard

solutions

have

concentrations

0.0200g/mL,

0.0500g/mL,

0.0700g/mL, 0.120g/mL and 0. 150g/mL.

1. Weigh a clean, dry 50 mL weighing bottle.
2. Add exactly 1.00 mL of Standard solution one to it and weigh again.
3. Record the difference weight of 1 mL of Standard solution 1.
4. Repeat 2 more times.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 with Standard solutions 2, 3, 4 and 5.
6. Record all data.
7. Now repeat steps 2-4 with the unknown solution.
8. Record data for the unknown.

Data and Results

1. Find the weight of 1 mL of Standard solutions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
2. Find the average of the 3 weights for each solution and record as Weight of
1.00

mL of Standard Solution .

3. Plot a graph of Mass of solution vs Concentration of solution

b. Find the best fit line and the correlation coefficient.
c. Fit the unknown on this plot and determine the % concentration of sugar in
your unknown sample.

Post lab

1. What unit must be used to express the concentration of sugar in the soda?
2. What is your unknown drink?
3. A person drinks 3 sodas a day of your unknown soda. Each bottle or can
contains 600mL of the drink.
a. How much sugar has the person consumed?
b. How many empty calories has the person consumed.
c. How much energy has the person gained as a consequence of the
drinks?