SAYING BYE TO LEMON & HI TO WATER! :D

As you have probably realised from reading my method that I have decided not to use lemon juice.
After doing intense mathematics during my double history I realised that when you add two solutions that both have a percentage acid of 5.....your solution will still have an % acid of 5.

So this is what i mean...

% of acid in Lemon = 5%

% of acid in Vinegar = 5%

∴ IN a solution of 100mL of lemon & 100mL of vinegar there will be 5mL of acid from the lemon & 5mL from the vinegar

∴The % of acid in the solution is: (5+5) x 100 = 5%

200

pft...so as a result I have decided to use water instead! Water has a 0% of acid! So if I add the two together i should have a % acid of 2.5%....

So this is what i mean...
% of acid in Water = 0%
% of acid in Vinegar = 5%
∴ IN a solution of 100mL of water & 100mL of vinegar there will be 0mL of acid from the water & 5mL from the vinegar
∴The % of acid in the solution is: (0+5) x 100 = 2.5%
200

So! Now that I have convinced myself so much that that works....even if it doesn't im goning through with it.
So now,
I'm going to have three solutions and this is what they're gona have in each:
'A' - Water solution (200mL of water) = 0% acid
'B' - Water/ Vinegar solution (100mL of vinegar + 100mL of water) = 2.5% acid (in theory)
'C' - Vinegar solution (200mL of vinegar) = 5% acid

with the hope of starting her experiment in good time,
Lakshmi

MY METHOD!

Equipment
1 Apple
3 Glass Cups
300mL of Tap Water
300mL of Vinegar
Peeler
Cling Wrap

Method
(Set equipment up as shown in diagram below)

1. Get three medium size, clear glass cups
2. Label them as ‘A’, ‘B’ & ‘C’
3. Pour 200mL of tap water in cup ‘A’
4. Pour 100mL of tap water & 100mL of vinegar into cup ‘B’
5.Pour 200mL of vinegar into cup ‘C’
6.Get an apple
7.Peal the skin off the apple
8.Cut it into 3 equal pieces that are 3cm wide, 3cm long & 1cm thick
9.Place one slice of the apple into each of the 3 solutions
10.Cover all three cups with a layer of cling wrap & leave them in a shaded spot for 7days
11. Construct a table like the one shown below
12.Record observations of the solutions on each apple everyday at a fixed time on table (eg. 10:00am everyday). Take into consideration especially the colour & texture of the apple

13. Take photo of solution when recoding observations & include it of recording table everyday
14.Repeat entire experiment two more times for reliability

SOME CONDITIONS APPLY....

MISS ZHANG HAS APPROVED MY IDEA!!!
BUT SOME CONDITIONS APPLY....
So apart from being very happy that I hv finally gotten the thumbs up....i need to change a couple of things.
Miss Zhang told me to only use one variable. So that's what I'm going to do!
I am going to only test the effect of the apple on a vinegar solution.
However, i'm going to test it on solutions of vinegar with varing amounts of acidity
In one cup I'm going to have just vinegar, and in the other 3 cups i'm going to increase the values of lemon juice at a constant rate to increase the percentage of acidity in each solution.
I researched the percentage of acid in vinegar and lemon. It turns out that vinegar is made up of 5% acid, while lemon is made of 5-6% acid.

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RESEARCH

Vinegar: (www.buzzle.com/articles/vinegar-ph-of-vinegar.html)
...The pH of vinegar depends upon how much acid is present in it. The most commercial distilled white vinegars contain 5% acetic acid and so have a pH value that is somewhere between 2.40 - 3.40....


Lemon: (http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_lemon.htm)
...Citric acid also makes up about five to six per cent of the juice and tissues of lemons and limes, this percentage is very high compared to oranges at about one to one and a half percent, or the grapefruit, at about one to two percent citric acid...


I also researched the pH of a substance is determined...
(www.chem4kids.com/files/react_acidbase.html)
That pH scale we talked about is actually a measure of the number of H+ ions in a solution. If there are a lot of H+ ions, the pH is very low. If there are a lot of OH- ions, that means the number of H+ ions is very low, so the pH is high. Think about it for a second. Why would a liquid with high levels of NaOH be dangerous and very basic? The Na-OH bond breaks in solution and you have sodium ions (+) and hydroxide ions (-). The sodium ions don't really pose a danger in solution, but there are a huge number of hydroxide ions in solution compared to the hydrogen ions. All of those excess OH- ions make the pH super-high and the solution will readily react with many compounds. The same thing happens on a less dangerous scale when you add baking soda to water. OH- ions are released in the solution. The numbers of OH- are greater than the H+ and the pH decreases.

I also researched the enzymatic browning reaction of cut apples....(http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/secondary/science/assets/aifst/Experiments/apple_browning.pdf)
When fruits or vegetables are peeled or cut, enzymes contained in the plant cells are released. In the presence of oxygen from the air, the enzyme phenolase catalyses one step in the biochemical conversion of plant phenolic compounds to form brown pigments known as melanins. This reaction, called enzymatic browning, occurs readily at warm temperatures when the pH is between 5.0 and 7.0.

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I found AMMONIA...@woolies!?

it was THE most unbelievable find ever!
u c...i was just leisurely walking through the detergents aisle scanning my eyes across all the different types of detergents and i saw a label with "AMMONIA" on it! It took a while for me to digest wat my eyes were reading, but then it finally clicked and I stood there starring at it with a " :O" face for 5yrs before i picked it up.
lyk wat the hell? I wasn't even looking for it and fate brought us two together :)
so there you go! If you want ammonia look no further than Woolworths the fresh food people ;)
finally realising how much fun blogging actually is,
Lakshmi
PS: I just need to keep reminding myself that Miss Zhang actually hasn't said yes or no to this idea yet. Maybe I should just wait for her approval....but then again she can't possibly disapprove of it...right?

Here's my climate graph...

ain't it just beautiful ;)

With only 4more days (including 2day) til school,

Lakshmi

finding AMMONIA is lyk trying to find a 4 leaf clover

I want to use Ammonia as one of my base substances....only thing is I can't find it anywhere. If anyone knows where to get Ammonia could they let me know?
LAKSHMI TO AMMONIA: Ammonia, Ammonia where for art thou Ammonia?
...*sigh*

Dear miss zhang, if you are reading this can you please approve it?

My awesum experiment was rejected....but now I'm a new person
Well...after much thought and hard, deep thinking by my cerebrum I have cum up with an even cooler idea than my last one!
This is my idea...
To test the effects of Acids and Bases on the Browning of Apples
i'm going to a cube of apple into each of the following solutions and see if acids or bases preserve apples more.
For my Acids I'm going to use:
-vinegar
-lemon
-tea (concentrated)
For my Bases I'm going to use:
-Baking Soda
-Ammonia
-Egg whites
I'm also going to put one in water to see the affect a neutral has on the apple.
I'm going to leave them over a couple of days and see the results.
I've also looked up some infomation on acids and bases
I found this website that said that acids would preserve them more and so i'm going to make my hypothesis:
'If the acidity of a substance is increased then the browning of the apple is decreased'

hehehe
some is finally getting somewhere,
Lakshmi
PS: ohmygod damn it....does miss zhang need to approve this?
PSS: Dear miss zhang, if you are reading this can you please approve it?