Intro: Finding Electrolytes in Orange Juice and Sports Drinks
I had to come up with a science fair project so I decided to play with food and find the stuff that you can generate electricity with, known as electrolytes. While playing with your food you will find out if orange juice has more electrolytes than a sports drink. This is a great project for older kids science projects. It is also is very informative for sports considering that electrolytes are very important to staying heathy and active.
Step 1: Materials
You will need:
a sport drink of you choice (preferably Gatorade)
Bare copper wire, 24 gauge
1 in. plastic tube ( you can remove the insides from a pen and cut to one in.
9-v battery clip ( this is optional but it makes it a lot easier attach the wire to the battery.)
6 in. Wire with alligator clips on both ends (2)
small bowls ceramic, glass, plastic, NOT METAL (3)
alligator clip with out a wire attached
Step 2: Putting the Pieces Together
cut 2 6in. copper wire pieces
wrap 1 wire peice around the plastic pen tube close to the end of the tube and leave about 2 in. of copper wire unwrapped
do the same with the other wire on the opposite end of the tube.
the alligator clips with wire will come with clips on both ends but you will need to cut off one of the clips from the red wire and attach the loose wire to the positive end of your battery using the battery clip.
cut off one clip from the black alligator clips with wire
attach the clip to one of the copper wires that is wrapped around the tube.
attach the wire from the clips to the negative end of the battery with the battery clip
Step 3: Attach It to the Multimeter
by now you will have a alligator that is attached to a red wire.
clip that to the positive wire of the multimeter.
with the negative wire from the multimeter attach it to the other copper wire that is on the tube using an alligator clip.
Now you are done creating your measuring tool. It should look like the one in the pictures.
Step 4: Measuring the Electrolytes
set your multimeter to 200 microamps
pour the 4 drinks into separate bowls
put only the plastic tube and copper wires into the drinks one at a time ( orange juice, gatorade, distilled water, and tap water
read the number on the screen of your multimeter.
the drink that has the highest number on the screen after putting the tube in it has the most electrolytes.
You are done playing with your food! I have my results on the next slide if you are going to cheat and not do the experiment.
Step 5: The Results
Orange juice: 24.6
Distilled water: 0.1
Tap water: 3.1
The orange juice had the most electrolytes and can be healthier depending on what your your body needs. The results show that It would be healthiest to drink Orange juice before a sport game or work out then drink gatorade afterward.
Second Prize in the