Analysis of Food

Dye in Beverages
AP Chemistry

Hannah Croy Period 5

26 January 2018

ANALYSIS OF FOOD DYE IN BEVERAGES – JANUARY 2018 1

Goal:

The purpose is to use a spectroscopy and graphical analysis to determine the concentration of Blue 1
food dye in commercially sold Powerade.

Data:

Solution Stock (mL) H2O (mL) Concentration (uM) Absorbance (A)

A 10 0 7 1.146
B 8 2 5.6 0.949
C 6 4 4.2 0.69
D 4 6 2.8 0.471
E 3 7 2.1 0.342
F 2 8 1.4 0.221
G 1 9 0.7 0.146
H 0 10 0 0.001
Powerade 0.577

Graphs/ Analysis:

Concentration vs. Absorbance

1.4

1.2 y = 0.1658x
1
Absorbance (A)

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Concentration (mL)

ANALYSIS OF FOOD DYE IN BEVERAGES – JANUARY 2018 2

Calculation of Blue 1 in Powerade:

Conclusion:

The concentration of Blue 1 food dye in Powerade is 3.480 mL. Possible points of
error could have occurred when the students measured the Blue 1 concentration in
the pipets. Occasionally, the pipet would not completely drain the measured
concentration. This would cause the data to have a lower Blue 1 to water ratio then
stated.

Application:

First, create a 7M stock solution of the Red 40 dye. Then, set up nine cuvettes, one
for the Powerade, one for a control and 7 for different concentrations of 7M Red 40
and water. 10 ml of the solutions should be measured in a graduated cylinder before
being poured into the cuvettes. Make sure that the cuvettes do not have any
fingerprints or stray marks. Set the Spec- 20 to 490 ums as it is the peaking
absorbance that the dye gets. Systematically collect the absorbance of each cuvette
measures. After all absorbances are collected, create a graph displaying a trend line of
the concentration vs absorbance levels. Plug the absorbance level from the unknown
concentration for the Powerade in for “y”. The solved number will represent the
concentration of Red 40 in the Powerade.

ANALYSIS OF FOOD DYE IN BEVERAGES – JANUARY 2018 3