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Introduction

Title: The Effect of Incandescent, Fluorescent, and Led Light At 900 lumens On The Concentration of Vitamin C Present In Oranges and Their Effectiveness On Metabolic Efficiency Research Question: How do light sources LED, Incandescent and Fluorescent at the light intensity of 900 lumens affect the concentration of Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) found in oranges? Personal Engagement: The most common fact and analogy people know about orange is that it is a great source of Vitamin C, also known as Ascorbic Acid. To this day, my parents would advise me to eat oranges, convinced that it will cure my flu and boost my immunity. In addition, when starting my weight loss journey, I was advised by my nutritionist to eat an orange a day claiming it would boost my metabolism and efficiency of weight loss due to vitamin C present in oranges. However, I was skeptical to their claims and wondered if there's a way to measure the actual abundance of Vitamin C in oranges and if any factors in our daily life come in the way of vitamin C concentration and its capabilities. After covering metabolism as part of our IB biology course, I want to investigate how the abundance of the concentration of vitamin C affects the activity of our metabolism. Introduction: Vitamin C, also known as Ascorbic acid, is an essential nutrient for the human body. It is necessary for various metabolic functions and its deficiency can cause scurvy. Vitamin-C entering our body by rich sources are absorbed by simple diffusion and active transport (Sinha). However, do not remain hence need to constantly replenish your body with the correct abundance if nutrients. Furthermore, light exposure and intensity play a role in ascorbic acids abundance in oranges. For this investigation, I will be using different light bulbs like incandescent, led and fluorescent lights to test at which light source is optimum condition for storage of oranges and the levels of vitamin C it contains. ...read more.

Middle

a. Using the 5 ml syringe take 2 ml from a sample collected of DCPIP solution and place it in a 250 ml beaker that it's under the titration burette. b. Place a white sheet of paper under the 250 ml beaker containing the 2ml DCPIP solution as this will help see when the color change and concentration of vitamin C are found. 6. Twist the burette knob to control the amount of ascorbic acid released causing color changes; make sure color reaches that shown in figure 5, transparent color. a. Once the color has become transparent, twist the knob shut and take note of the final volume of ascorbic acid shown on the burette. 7. Once initial concentration is found by titrating 55 ml of ascorbic acid solution in 2 ml of 0.01M of DCPIP, it's time to find the influence of different lights fluorescent, led and incandescent at 900 lumens have on the ascorbic acid solution. 8. Screw in an incandescent light bulb at 60 watts into lampstand and place the beaker with 55 ml sample of ascorbic acid under lampstand. 9. Using 20 cm ruler, ensure that the distance between incandescent light bulb and solution is 10 cm. 10. Set the timer to 15 minutes and turn on the incandescent light bulb. 11. When 15 minutes are over, place the 55 ml sample of ascorbic acid into the titration burette and titrate as instructed in step 6. 12. Repeat steps 8 to 11 four more times for incandescent light bulbs to obtain 5 trials 13. Repeat steps 3-12 for 55 ml of the Ascorbic acid solution under fluorescent and LED light bulbs. ________________ Data Collection: Qualitative data: - When 55 mL sample was put under incandescent light for 15 minutes with 10 cm distance from the light bulb to the ascorbic acid solution, it was noticed that the light bulb heated. ...read more.

Conclusion

Even though efforts were made to cover up the liter of ascorbic acid solution from surrounding light by a paper bag when not used, the ascorbic acid solution was still affected by surrounding light when taken out to measure 50 ml and when sitting in titration burette. This is a human error ________________ Having a non-controlled light source like the surrounding light of the lab on the initial ascorbic acid solution, may affect the concentration of ascorbic acid even before inserting it in controlled light conditions from the independent variables. This ultimately affects the resulting concentration of ascorbic acid after titration and the reliability of data collection. ________________ - Carry out the investigation in dimmer settings to obtain data with fewer errors. - Perform this experiment efficiently, therefore the solution of ascorbic acid remains at its theoretical concentration before its manipulation by independent variables. Ideas for Further Investigation: With the information gained from this experiment, further research could be done to not only test the light source at which oranges are stored at but the temperatures they as stored at as well. Oranges are usually kept in refrigerators at cold temperatures, I wonder if temperature plays a role in the effectiveness of vitamin C in oranges or another vitamin C rich fruits. As seen in the process of this investigation, Vitamin C is greatly affected by temperature and light; hence, an experiment could be done to obtain the best temperature at which oranges should be stored to maintain the vitamin C content. An experimental lab posted on UKessays tests the temperature effect of vitamin C in orange juice can be adapted and conducted to measure the concentration of vitamin C remain after influence by different temperatures (independent variables) and this would be found by the use of a titration. Not only the concentration of Vitamin C in oranges can be tested, but other citrus fruits in order to test which fruit would hold on to the concentration of vitamin C better. This would indicate which citrus fruit is the best for an increase in metabolic activity. ...read more.

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our International Baccalaureate Biology section.