The Benedict's Test

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The Benedict's Test is used to test the presence of simple sugars in a sample. If sugars are present, a color change will occur from blue to red. However, although the Benedict's test shows the presence of sugars, it cannot accurately determine the concentration of sugar in a sample solution. In our method, we added specific concentrations of glucose to the Benedict's test to use as a chart to estimate the glucose concentration of an unknown solution X. Although this gives a rough estimate of the concentration, it is very inaccurate. For example, the mystery solution X was a pale orange color, which was between the colors in my first and second test tube. Therefore, the glucose concentration of solution X could have been anything between 1% and 10% glucose concentration. By its color, it seemed to be closer to test tube 1; therefore, I estimated it to be 7%. However, this method is extremely inefficient, and that estimate could easily be wrong. Hence, this method is semi-quantitative and has several limitations. Too much is left down to estimation, where human error could easily occur because in-betweens cannot be accurately measured and have to be guessed at. In conclusion, the method seems flawed in accurately measuring the glucose concentration of solutions. To make the experiment a "fair test," three main variables needed to be kept constant. Firstly, the volumes, including all measurements, i.e., the amount of Benedict's solution used and the amount of glucose water solution in each test tube. Secondly, the time that all the test tubes were kept in the water bath had to be the same for all test tubes, including solution X.

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