Introduction

In this experiment, we will determine which citrus fruit has the maximum content of Vitamin C. We will also see if it gets affected when covered or uncovered.

Aim

1. To find which citrus fruit has the maximum content of vitamin C.

2. To find whether the vitamin C present in fruit gets affected by covering or uncovering it.

Theory

We hypothesized that lemons would have the most amount of vitamin C in them.

Requirements

1. Plastic Container with lids

2. 5cc Syringe

3. 500 ml of 1% starch solution

4. Plastic containers with lids

5. Iodine

6. Vitamin C tablets of 250 mg.

7. 25 of Pipette

8. 100 ml of Burette with stop cock

9. 250 ml of distilled water

10. A juicer

11. 2125 ml juice of Florida grapefruit

12. 2125 ml juice of Lemons

13. 2125 ml juice of Valencia Oranges

14. 2125 ml juice of Limes

15. 2125 ml juice of Minello Tangerines

16. Notebook

Procedure

Step 1: Juice all the fruits you want and record the ounces of juice you get from the fruit.

Step 2: Now take 1 oz. of fruit juice and add it to 4 oz. of water. Stir it well.

Step 3: Take the starch solution and add 1 tsp of it to the juice.

Step 4: Stir this solution well.

Step 5: Keep adding the iodine solution until the blue color of the solution persists.

Step 6: Now, record the number of drops that you have added to the solution to produce a blue color.

Step 7: Now divide the number of drops from the reference sample of fruits. This is how you calculated the amount of vitamin C per ounce of juice.

Step 8: Multiply the oz. of fruit juice you obtained with the amount of Vitamin C per ounce of juice. This is how you can determine the approx. content of vitamin C in fruit juice.

Step 9: Perform the same experiment with each fruit.

Step 10: Record your observations.

Determination of Vitamin C through Titration

Observation

1. From our experiment, we observed that Oranges were the ones that had the highest amount of vitamin C in them. Lemons, grapefruits, tangerines, and limes came after Oranges.

2. When we kept the fruit juice for 8 days, covered and uncovered, the vitamin C content was the same in both cases. Although in both cases, we observed an instant decrease in vitamin C content.

Result

1. We obtained the highest vitamin C content in fresh Valencia Oranges.

2. Therefore, the hypothesis, in which we assumed that Lemons would be the one with the highest vitamin C content, is wrong.

3. The environment for keeping the juice does affect the vitamin C content in it but not much.

4. Both the juice, whether it was covered or uncovered, lost vitamin C day after day. However, the loss of vitamin C content in the covered content was slightly slower than in the uncovered one.

5. For the first few days, the uncovered one gradually lost the vitamin C content but stabilized at the end of the 8th day.

Precaution

1. Stir while adding drops of iodine solution.

2. Record your observation carefully.

3. Make sure you are doing the correct calculation.

Conclusion

In this experiment, we determined which citrus fruit has the maximum content of vitamin C in it. We also determined the effect of covered and uncovered juice on vitamin C content.

VIVA Questions With Answers

Q.1 What was the aim of your experiment?

ANS. We aimed to find out the citrus fruit with the maximum vitamin C content.

Q.2 Which fruit has the maximum content of vitamin C?

ANS. Valencia Oranges have the maximum vitamin C content

Q.3 What was the effect of storage on vitamin C contained fruits?

ANS. The environment does affect the vitamin C content but not much. Because at the end of the experiment, we saw that both covered as well as uncovered ones lost almost the same amount of vitamin C content.

Saquib Siddiqui

Saquib Siddiqui is a Mechanical Engineer and a content creator. He has special interest in science experiments and teaches the same to school and college students. He is also a technical lead at RUDE LABS PVT. LTD.