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Iron Content and Dates Syrup

Ananya conducted research to determine which contains more iron - raw dates or dates syrup. She hypothesized that raw dates contain more iron than dates syrup. Using atomic absorption spectroscopy, she found the iron content of raw dates to be 20 mg and of dates syrup to be 7.8 mg. Therefore, her results supported her hypothesis that raw dates have a higher iron content than dates syrup.

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Ananya GS
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122 views

Iron Content and Dates Syrup

Ananya conducted research to determine which contains more iron - raw dates or dates syrup. She hypothesized that raw dates contain more iron than dates syrup. Using atomic absorption spectroscopy, she found the iron content of raw dates to be 20 mg and of dates syrup to be 7.8 mg. Therefore, her results supported her hypothesis that raw dates have a higher iron content than dates syrup.

Uploaded by

Ananya GS
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CHEMISTRY

INTERNAL ASSESSMENT

ANANYA GS
9-A
CONTENTS

RESEARCH QUESTION

AIM

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

HYPOTHESIS

METHODOLOGY

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

TABLE OF RESULTS

RESEARCH QUESTION
To what extent does the iron content vary in raw dates and dates syrup ?

AIM
Dates has always been one of my favourite dry fruits to eat . They are very sweet and
very healthy as well . As an anaemic person , dates has been one of the most common
things in my day to day diet , but I’ve always wondered if raw dates or dates syrup
contains the most iron . In this research paper , i will be finding out which one has the
most iron content .

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Iron Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe (Latin: ferrum) and atomic
number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element in
the whole planet Earth, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core, and it is the
fourth most common element in the Earth's crust. It is produced in abundance as a
result of fusion in high-mass stars. Like other Group 8 elements, iron exists in a wide
range of oxidation states, −2 to + 6, although +2 and +3 are the most common.
Elemental iron occurs in meteoroids and other low oxygen environments, but is
reactive to oxygen and water. Fresh iron surfaces appear lustrous silvery-gray, but
oxidize in normal air to give iron oxides, also known as rust. Unlike many other
metals which form passivating oxide layers, iron oxides occupy more volume than
iron metal.

Iron plays an important role in biology, forming complexes with molecular oxygen in
hemoglobin and myoglobin ; these two compounds are common oxygen transport
proteins in vertebrates. Iron is also the metal used at the active site of many important
redox enzymes dealing with cellular respiration and oxidation and reduction in plants
and animals. Iron is of greatest importance when mixed with certain other metals and
with carbon to form steels. There are many types of steels, all with different
properties, and an understanding of the properties of the allotropes of iron is key to
the manufacture of good quality steels. Alpha-iron, also known as ferrite, is the most
stable form of iron at normal temperatures. It is a fairly soft metal that can dissolve
only a small concentration of carbon (no more than 0.021% by mass at 910 °C). The
melting point of iron is experimentally well constrained for pressures up to
approximately 50 GPa. For higher pressures, different studies placed the γ-ε-liquid
triple point at pressures differing by tens of gigapascals and yielded differences of
more than 1000 K for the melting point.
Atomic number:26

6
Electron configuration:[Ar] 3d 4s2
Melting point:1,538°C
Oxidation states:−4, −2, −1, 0, +1, +2, +3, +4, +5, +6, +7 (an amphoteric

oxide) Period:period 4

Iron has a molar mass of55.84 grams/mole.

he specific heat of iron is0.450 J/g°C.

The oxidation number of the element Fe is0.

Iron is important in making red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body. A
lack of iron can lead to iron deficiency anaemia .Your body uses iron to make
hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to all parts
of the body, and myoglobin, a protein that provides oxygen to muscles. Your body
also needs iron to make some hormones.
A date is a stone fruit, meaning it has a single seed surrounded by an outer fleshy
fruit(like peaches, mangoes, and olives). They're grown on date palm trees, so where
you would usually invision coconuts, picture big bunches of hundreds of
dates!Specifically, dates have been shown to contain benzoic acids, cinnamic acids,
flavonoid glycosides and esters, flavan-3-ols, and proanthocyanidins, which all
belong to the phenolic compounds. So overall, while dates are rich in sugar, they
deliver a whole range of healthy nutrients.
The main chemical components of date fruit include carbohydrates, dietary fibre,
enzymes, protein, fat, minerals, vitamins, phenolic acids and carotenoids. The
chemical composition of date fruit varies according to ripening stage, cultivar,
growing environment, post harvest conditions, etc.

Date syrup is a thick, caramel-colored sweetener made from dates. You may have
seen it on the shelves in your local health food store, as many cooks embrace it as an
alternative sweetener.

Essentially date syrup is made by heating dates in water, blending the dates, pressing
the mixture through a filter to strain out pits and insoluble parts of the date, and then
evaporating the water that was put in, back out.

Glucose and fructose were the major sugars present in date syrup. The date syrup was
also found to be a good source of macro-elements like calcium, phosphorus,
potassium, magnesium, but significantly low in sodium.

HYPOTHESIS
H0 – Dates syrup has a higher iron content than raw dates .

H1 – Raw dates has a higher iron content than Dates syrup .

METHODOLOGY

DETERMINATION OF IRON CONTENT IN RAW DATES

Atomic absorption spectrophotometry Technique was performed.

Determination of iron content in,dates was done using atomic absorption


spectroscopy .The technique makes use of absorption spectrometry to assess the
concentration of an analyte in a sample. It requires standards with known analyte
content to establish the relation between the measured absorbance and the analyte
concentration. In short, the electrons of the atoms in the atomizer can be promoted to
higher orbitals (excited state) for a short period of time (nanoseconds) by absorbing a
defined quantity of energy (radiation of a given wavelength). This amount of energy,
i.e., wavelength, is specific to a particular electron transition in a particular element.
In general, each wavelength corresponds to only one element, and the width of an
absorption line is only of the order of a few picometers (pm), which gives the
technique its elemental selectivity.
0.5 gms are accurately weighed in 250 mL beaker. Then , 25 mL of 6 M hydrochloric
acid was added in the beaker , and boiled for about 30 min, till the volume of solution
drops to about 5 mL .About 5 mL of hot water was added to each sample and boiled
.The contents of the beaker were very carefully filtered into a calibrated 50 mL
volumetric flasks and made to the volume by addition of deionized water.

This experiment concludes that dates have 20 mg iron content .

DETERMINATION OF IRON CONTENT IN DATES SYRUP

Usually the composition of the dates syrup is written on the packaging so I have
taken that value .

The Iron content in date palm syrup is 7.8 mg .


ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

From the results I have gotten , I can conclude that raw dates has the higher iron
content than dates syrup so the alternate hypothesis is supported .
FOOD ITEM IRON CONTENT
DATES 20 mg
DATES SYRUP 7.8 mg

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