Problem Statement

Two housewives disagree on the content of vitamin C in lemon juice when it is cooked.

Hypothesis
the vitamin C/ascorbic acid content of lime juice is depleted when it is cooked.

Aim
To determine whether uncooked lime juice has a higher ascorbic acid content than cooked lime
juice using the titration method.

Apparatus and Materials)

burette, burette stand conical flask, beaker, pipette filler, filter funnel, pipette, iodine, Bunsen
burner and flame, volumetric flask, distilled water, limes and starch.
Method

1. Squeeze 20 limes in a beaker.

2. Measure 20cm3 of the lime juice and add to the 250cm3 volumetric flask.
3. Add distilled water to the lime juice solution in the flask until the 250cm3 mark is
achieved.
4. Swirl the contents of the flask and using a pipette, remove 25cm3 of the dilute solution
and add to a beaker. Remove another 25 cm3 of the diluted solution and add to a conical
flask labelled A.
5. The beaker with the solution is heated for 10 minutes.
6. The heated solution is transferred to a conical flask and labelled B.
7. Set up burette on stand appropriately.
8. Use the funnel to fill the burette with iodine solution.
9. Add three drops of starch to the contents of flask A and B then perform the titration until
there is a permanent red colour in the conical flask.
10. Repeat procedure for a total of three readings for each flask.
11. Record all readings and tabulate results

Variables

 Controlled: The concentration and volume of lime juice used, the amount of starch used.
 Manipulated: cooked and uncooked lime juice.
 Responding: the volume of iodine used

BRITTANY PITT
L6H1
Data Collected

TABLE SHOWING THE RESULTS OBTAINED WHEN UNCOOKED LIME JUICE WAS
TITRATED AGAINST IODINE SOLUTION

ROUGH TITRATION 1 TITRATION 2

TITRATION

FINAL VOLUME/ cm3

INITIAL VOLUME/ cm3

VOLUME OF IODINE USED

TABLE SHOWING THE RESULTS OBTAINED WHEN COOKED LIME JUICE WAS
TITRATED AGAINST IODINE SOLUTION

ROUGH TITRATION 1 TITRATION 2

TITRATION

FINAL VOLUME/ cm3

INITIAL VOLUME/ cm3

VOLUME OF IODINE USED

Treatment of results

The volume of iodine used will indicate the amount of ascorbic acid present. Ascorbic acid
(vitamin C) is readily oxidized and iodine is reduced to colourless iodide. When no more
ascorbic acid is present, iodine reacts with starch to produce a blue black colour. The lime juice
that used more iodine to form the blue black colour has more ascorbic acid therefore the volumes
of iodine used will indicate which juice has more ascorbic acid.

BRITTANY PITT
L6H1
Expected results

The cooked lime juice will require a smaller volume of iodine to achieve the blue black colour
and thus has less ascorbic acid present in the cooked lime juice. The uncooked lime juice will
require a greater volume of iodine to achieve the blue black colour and thus contains more
ascorbic acid. If this occurs the hypothesis is valid. If the cooked lime juice requires a greater
volume of iodine to achieve the blue black colour than the uncooked lime juice, it has more
ascorbic acid and thus the hypothesis is invalid. If the cooked and uncooked lime juices require
the same amount of iodine to achieve the blue black colour, they contain the same amount of
ascorbic acid and therefore hypothesis is invalid.

Sources of errors

The identification of the end point is not precise and may be passed due to human reflex error in
stopping the burette as soon as the colour is achieved.

Assumption:
there are no other substances besides citric acid and ascorbic acid present that would react with
iodine.

Precaution

All readings are to be done at the point where the meniscus of the solution lies.

BRITTANY PITT
L6H1