Gatorade Experiment

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Introduction Statement of Purpose: The purpose of this experiment is to determine the effects, if any, that freezing Gatorade has on its conductivity. Background Research: In order to better understand this experiment, one must first have a clear understanding of several underlying concepts. First, one must be aware of the ingredients and properties of Gatorade. Secondly, one must understand what an electrolyte is and its biological significance. Thirdly, one must be familiar with the general idea of conductivity. Finally, one must understand how freezing a substance affects its properties at a molecular level. Once a basic understanding of the aforementioned concepts is obtained one will be able to adequately conduct the experiment and …show more content…

Gatorade is made up of filtered water, brominated vegetable oil, sucralose or high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, salt, sodium citrate, monopotassium phosphate, Glycerol ester, and artificial colors (Buckines, 2015). The first ingredient is simply water. The brominated vegetable oil comes from soybeans and is added to beverages to maintain consistency. Sucralose is an artificial sweetener that doesn’t have calories and is used in some sugar free varieties of Gatorade. However, the traditional Gatorade beverage uses high fructose corn syrup to give the drink its sweet taste. The citric acid is used to enhance the beverage’s flavor and as a preservative. Salt is added as an electrolyte to regulate internal bodily fluids. Sodium citrate enhances the Gatorade’s flavor and keeps the ingredients stable. Additionally, sodium citrate can be classified as an electrolyte. The monopotassium phosphate is where the bulk of Gatorade’s electrolytes come from. Phosphate is one of the most common electrolytes. The glycerol ester is added to maintain the drink’s consistency and to prevent oil separation within the beverage (Buckines, 2015). Now that a foundation of Gatorade’s ingredients has been established, one can proceed to evaluate the further …show more content…

This physical change can easily be observed, however a deeper understanding of what occurs at a molecular level is needed. As a substance cools and freezes molecular motion is slowed and a rigid molecular pattern is formed. In respect to beverages containing lots of electrolytes, the minerals in the beverage may rise to the top when frozen (Buckines, 2015). This may lead to a concentration of minerals at the top of the beverage, which may be unhealthy if consumed. This concentration of minerals contains not only most of the beverage’s electrolytes, but also the beverage’s flavor giving substances. When the frozen Gatorade is thawed it usually lacks some of its flavor because of the separation that occurred. Thus, freezing Gatorade merely concentrates the electrolytes in the beverage, but does not change the total amounts of electrolytes. In this experiment the researcher will create a simple conductance sensor by using a battery to run a charge through the liquid. The researcher also intends to use an electrical multi-meter to find the current and then subsequently find the conductivity through the use of a formula. The researcher will determine the conductivity of the Gatorade before and after freezing to determine of being frozen had an effect on the Gatorade’s

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