Iced Tea Experiment

Introduction:

People drink sodas and iced teas in their everyday lives and I wanted to investigate which of the two is less harmful in terms of sugar content. We wanted to examine and precisely measure the amount of sugar in four different sodas and two different iced teas to see if the amount of sugar indicated on the soda and iced tea bottle labels per 250ml is accurate.

Investigative Question:

To examine if the sugar content in various soda and iced tea drinks is accurate according to what the brix hydrometer says.

Hypothesis:

Are there different sugar percentages/grams of sugar in sodas and iced teas?

Does this differ from the information provided on the soda and iced tea labels

Variables:

Independent Variable: sodas and iced teas

Dependant

Using a permanent marker draw a line on the 0% sugar solution bottle at the water level. Measure out the same line on the other 5 bottles labelled 5% sugar to 25% sugar. This line will indicate the maximum volume of water when filling the bottles after the sugar has been added to the empty bottles.

 Measure out and add the following amounts of sugar to each bottle as outlined in the steps below:

- 0% sugar – 0 grams of sugar

- 5% sugar – 100 grams of sugar

- 10% sugar - 200 grams of sugar

- 15% sugar – 300 grams of sugar

- 20% sugar – 400 grams of sugar

- 25% sugar – 500 grams of sugar

 Fill the other 5 bottles labelled 5% sugar to 25% sugar with water up to the marked line.

 Put the caps on the bottles and shake them until all the sugar is dissolved.

Testing the Sugar Solutions

 All of the solutions should be the same temperature before testing

 Place the hydrometer in the 0% sugar bottle, record your reading in your notebook

 Repeat this step for the 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% sugar solutions.

 Rinse and dry the hydrometer between readings.

Testing the Soda and Iced Tea

 Place the hydrometer in soda 1(coke). Record the value on the hydrometer in your notebook

 Remove the hydrometer and rinse and dry

This experiment has shown that out of the four sodas and two iced teas tested the most accurate reading according to the labels found on the sodas and iced tea bottles was for Fanta grape. Coke, sprite, crème soda, raspberry flavour iced tea and peach flavour iced tea showed a slightly higher level of grams of sugar per 250ml than what is printed on their labels

Conclusion:

Based on the results obtained over the three experiments performed we can conclude that there are in fact different amounts of sugar present in various sodas and iced teas and that the information provided on the labels of sodas and iced teas does not appear to be 100% accurate.

Relevance:

Based on the results of this experiment I believe people should carefully read labels of products that they buy as we are not always aware of the negative health effects that products like sodas and iced teas can have on us.

Bibliography: http://www.education.com/science-fair/article/measuring-sugar-in-soda/ http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/FoodSci_p056.shtml