M1 - A1.

Scientific Method: POST-LAB

Kemuel Santiago
Marinelle

Why Do Fruits Turn Brown?

What is the reason why fruits turn brown when bruised or exposed to air for a long time?

Fruits turn brown because of the enzymes inside the fruits chemically react to oxygen.
Cellular damage can also be a factor in a fruit turning brown. It can turn brown
when it is hit, dinged, dropped, and thrown.
Apple Oxidation
Materials used

 Apple
 Lemon
 Tingy
 Tingy
 Tingy

Procedure
To know how fruits oxidize the experimented fruit (subject) will be exposed to
different types of subjection (lemon, fish sauce, salt, vinegar), a control fruit will also be looked
at to know if a fruit’s subjection type can affect its time to oxidize. The subjects will be exposed
to subjection for 45 mins with an interval period of 15 mins to be examined in the glass. Finally,
in the 45th minute we will take out the apples from the glass and examine how fast or slow they
went oxidation.

Results
The control apple was oxidized in the first 15 minutes of observation while the other
apples have not yet oxidized. After 30 minutes the apples subjected to vinegar and salt were
starting to oxidize while the lemon and fish sauce apples were still white in color, finally after 45
mins the apple subjected to lemon was oxidized while the apple subjected to the fish sauce was
still not oxidized.
Time till oxidation

Time Type of subjection

15 mins Control
30 mins Vinegar and Salt
45 mins Lemon

Conclusion
Fruits oxidize when exposed to oxygen. The reason why fruits turn brown is because the
cells present in the apple react to oxygen turning them into o-quinones. The cells that react to
oxygen are called Polyphenol Oxidases and can be found in nearly every plant imaginable, they
contain copper, and they turn phenolic compounds into quinones.