The Effect of Temperature and Light on Vitamin C Degradation

Elizabeth Diviney – Warren Mott High School

Krystal Krygowski – Cousino High School

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Terms to Know

• Ascorbic Acid – a sugar acid with antioxidant (Vitamin C)

• Tincture of Iodine – a tincture consisting of a solution of iodine in ethyl alcohol

• Degradation – the decomposition of everything

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Purpose

• To help people become more cancer resistant

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Problem Statement

• How does temperature and light affect vitamin C levels in orange juice?

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Why?

• Temperature affects vitamin C in a negative way meaning that as temperature increases vitamin C levels decrease

• Light affects vitamin C in a growing fruit positively, but because orange juice is not a growing fruit the effect is negative

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Hypothesis

• If the orange juice is exposed to higher temperatures and a greater length of light, then the degradation of vitamin C, in the orange juice, will be faster

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Basic Materials

• Tincture of Iodine

• Minute Maid Orange Juice

• 3 Lamps

• Vitamin C Indicator Solution

• Heater

• Chemplates

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Setup

• Pour orange juice into the test tubes

• Set up test situations in each area

• Make Vitamin C indicator solution

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Procedures

• Test orange juice for vitamin C levels using the vitamin C indicator solution

• Record results

• Place the orange juice back in the proper testing areas

• Repeat every 48 hours

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Testing for Vitamin C Levels

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A Two-Factor DOE

• The Two-Factor DOE, or Design of Experiment, is an experiment that has two independent factors that influence the outcome of the dependent factor

• The independent factors are light and temperature

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Test ResultsOrder Runs Results Order Runs Results Order Runs Results

1 Stand 3.005 5 Stand 3.000 9 Stand 3.170

2 Stand 3.005 6 Stand 3.000 10 Stand 3.000

3 Stand 3.000 7 Stand 2.835 11 Stand 2.835

4 Stand 2.835 8 Stand 3.000 12 Stand 3.005

13 + - 2.670 17 + - 2.670 21 + - 2.170

14 + - 2.500 18 + - 2.670 22 + - 2.670

15 + - 2.835 19 + - 2.670 23 + - 2.335

16 + - 2.835 20 + - 2.670 24 + - 3.000

25 + + 2.840 29 + + 2.335 33 + + 2.670

26 + + 3.170 30 + + 3.000 34 + + 3.005

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27 + + 3.335 31 + + 3.170 35 + + 2.505

28 + + 3.005 32 + + 3.170 36 + + 2.505

37 - + 3.335 41 - + 3.005 45 - + 3.005

38 - + 2.335 42 - + 2.835 46 - + 2.840

39 - + 3.505 43 - + 2.670 47 - + 3.340

40 - + 2.505 44 - + 2.835 48 - + 3.005

49 - - 2.005 53 - - 2.335 57 - - 2.500

50 - - 2.335 54 - - 2.170 58 - - 2.505

51 - - 2.170 55 - - 2.005 59 - - 2.170

52 - - 2.170 56 - - 2.335 60 - - 2.170

Order Runs Results Order Runs Results Order Runs Results

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Data Analysis

RunsFirstDOE

Second DOE

Third DOE

AverageL T

(+) (+) 12.35 11.68 10.69 11.57

(-) (-) 8.68 8.85 9.35 8.96

(+) (-) 10.84 10.68 10.18 10.57

(-) (+) 11.68 11.35 12.19 11.74

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Effect of Light

11.05

10.35

8.59.09.5

10.010.511.011.512.0

-1 1

Amount of Light (Hours)

Dro

ps

of

Ind

ica

tor

The drops of indicator increase as the amount of light increases.

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Effect of Temperature

11.66

9.77

8.59.09.5

10.010.511.011.512.0

-1 1

Temperture (°C)

Dro

ps

of

Ind

ica

tor

As the temperature increases the drops of indicator increases

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Interaction Graph

11.57

10.57

8.96 11.74

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

1 2

Temperature of Storage Area (°C)

Dro

ps

of I

nd

icat

or

The line segments cross, meaning that an interaction between the factors is possible

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Conclusion

• The hypothesis was rejected because it stated that the orange juice exposed to the highest temperatures and the greatest amount of light would have a greater degradation rate

• Those with a greater degradation rate were those with a higher temperature and a lower light

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Problems

• Interpreting when the vitamin C indicator solution became colorless

• The vitamin C indicator solution should have been made fresh daily

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Design Flaws

• The orange juice that was on the heater may have not gotten enough heat

• The experiment should have be run longer to more accurate results

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Furthering Research

• Use a wider range of temperatures

• Use more orange juice to test

• Run the test longer

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World Application

• Help the American Cancer Association– In finding a way to keep vitamin C longer this may

help cancer patients by fighting the disease

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Acknowledgements

• http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=tincture%20of%20iodine

• http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminC/.

• http://rescomp.stanford.edu/~cheshire/EinsteinQuotes.html.

• http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_5_3X_ Vitamin_ C.asp.

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Any Questions?

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