9/23/08 The Acid Test

Today in Science Methods we did a lab that tested the acidity of different kinds of fruits and juices. We had to put a little bit of baking soda into a cup and then add some of the juice. We also tested vinegar and water for acidity too.
My group started with the vinegar and added it to the baking soda, it fizzled a lot. We cleaned out the cup and tried just using water and baking soda, which did nothing. Then we tried a 50/50 combo of vinegar and water with the baking soda, which fizzled pretty good.
After that, we got into the fruit juices. We started off with white grapefruit juice and added it to the baking soda. The combination did not fizzle like we thought it would. Then we tried lime juice and baking soda, which had a huge effect and fizzled a lot. Next, was orange juice and baking soda, which did not fizzle hardly at all. Finally, we tried pink grapefruit juice, which fizzled about the same as the pink grapefruit juice.
Then we tested the acidity of real fruit pieces. First, we tried a lemon piece and sprinkled some baking powder on top of it. It did not fizzle well at all, but we still got a little reaction out of it. Next, we tried an orange piece. It fizzled, but was very hard to see because it was hardly noticeable. Then we tried a piece of lime, which did about the same as the lemon. Finally, we tried a piece of grapefruit, which we all thought would do something, but it did the same as the lemon and lime pieces.
We recorded all of our observations on an Acid Test graph. It was clear to our group that the vinegar and lime juice fizzled the most out of everything. The 50/50 combo came in third.
All in all, it was a very fun lab activity and I hope we get to do the second part of the lab the next time that we have class.