Introduction:
The purpose of this lab was to use the absorbance of light through a solution to determine the concentration of Blue Dye 1 in Cool Blue Gatorade. In today's society most people are health conscious and food coloring and dyes have been a controversial topic. Blue Dye 1 is one of the most popular FDA-approved dyes used in food such as fruits, sauces, and baking mixes. Such dyes are not limited to foods but also used in shampoos, detergents, and vitamins just to name a few (Hennessey). There have been many studies pointing to the fact that dyes are toxic, carcinogens and contributors to ADHD. In certain unpublished studies there is a suggested possibility that Blue Dye 1 can cause kidney tumors in mice but has yet to be proven in …show more content…
One limitation is the fact that only Cool Blue Gatorade was tested and not other blue Gatorades like Blue Cherry Gatorade which also contains Blue Dye 1. Other Gatorades might contain a higher concentrations of the dye.These unknown levels of dye could be harmful to humans. Another limitation is the wavelength used to determine the absorbance of the solutions. If a blue wavelength were to be used there would be almost 0 % absorbance because all the light would be reflecting off the solution making it appear blue and none of it would actually be absorbed. The experiment would fail to produce a linear calibration curve and we would be unable to determine concentration of the unknown solution. One source of error is the fact that the standards used to make the standard curve did not have the same ingredient as the Gatorade. In addition to the dye, Gatorade consists of sugar, salt, citric acid and other ingredients. The standards simply contained water and dye but did not account for all these other ingredients. Ingredients such as sugars, salt, and citric acid could influence the amount of light that passes through the solution and thus alter the amount of light received by the photometer and ultimately change the absorbance value. The results would be more accurate if the blanks and standards were made of or contained the ingredients as Cool Blue Gatorade but had different concentrations of dye for the standard
The purpose of this lab was to use the absorbance of light through a solution to determine the concentration of Blue Dye 1 in Cool Blue Gatorade. In today's society most people are health conscious and food coloring and dyes have been a controversial topic. Blue Dye 1 is one of the most popular FDA-approved dyes used in food such as fruits, sauces, and baking mixes. Such dyes are not limited to foods but also used in shampoos, detergents, and vitamins just to name a few (Hennessey). There have been many studies pointing to the fact that dyes are toxic, carcinogens and contributors to ADHD. In certain unpublished studies there is a suggested possibility that Blue Dye 1 can cause kidney tumors in mice but has yet to be proven in …show more content…
One limitation is the fact that only Cool Blue Gatorade was tested and not other blue Gatorades like Blue Cherry Gatorade which also contains Blue Dye 1. Other Gatorades might contain a higher concentrations of the dye.These unknown levels of dye could be harmful to humans. Another limitation is the wavelength used to determine the absorbance of the solutions. If a blue wavelength were to be used there would be almost 0 % absorbance because all the light would be reflecting off the solution making it appear blue and none of it would actually be absorbed. The experiment would fail to produce a linear calibration curve and we would be unable to determine concentration of the unknown solution. One source of error is the fact that the standards used to make the standard curve did not have the same ingredient as the Gatorade. In addition to the dye, Gatorade consists of sugar, salt, citric acid and other ingredients. The standards simply contained water and dye but did not account for all these other ingredients. Ingredients such as sugars, salt, and citric acid could influence the amount of light that passes through the solution and thus alter the amount of light received by the photometer and ultimately change the absorbance value. The results would be more accurate if the blanks and standards were made of or contained the ingredients as Cool Blue Gatorade but had different concentrations of dye for the standard