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Hello, I am currently doing my science fair
project and I need your help. Just to give you a
little understanding of my project, here is my
hypothesis: If I boil citrus fruit juice then, it
will have less vitamin C compared to citrus fruit
juice that has not been cooked. I would highly
appreciate if you could help me out. Here is a
list of questions that I have: What is the
temperature at which vitamin C begins to be lost?
78F -90F? 110F?
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Question Date: 2012-01-07 | | Answer 1:
I think you have a nice hypothesis, but a
slight change of wording would be more correct.
Boiled juice would have less active vitamin C but
not less because it does not leave the juice when
you cook it. Here is why. Vitamin C or ascorbic
acid is a type of molecule called an antioxidant.
Antioxidant molecules (there are many different
types vitamin E and many of the molecules that
make berries red or blue) in the body are very
useful because they prevent damage to cells,
proteins and your DNA by reacting with other
molecules that would oxidize (or take away
electrons) from these important structures. When
an antioxidant encounters an oxidant, the two
react and the antioxidant gives up some of its
electrons to the oxidant molecule. This reaction
can change structure of the antioxidant molecule
and effectively shutting it off to react with the
next oxidant it runs into. This type of reaction
is a redox reaction where one molecule is oxidized
(the antioxidant or vitamin C) and the other is
reduced (chemistry talk for gained electrons).
Oxidants in the body can be metal ions like copper
ions or free radicals. Free radicals can be
created by UV light and breaks a bond in a
molecule that leaves a free electron. Electrons
like to stay in pairs, and that molecule with the
unpaired electron looks for an electron it can to
make a pair. If the electron it finds to make its
pair is in your DNA it can cause damage to your
DNA and possible lead to in the worst cases to
cancer. In general, a chemical reaction
happens more quickly at higher temperature, since
the molecules are moving around faster and are
more likely to bump into one another and cause a
reaction. Even in cold juice vitamin C can react
with oxidants in the juice and be oxidized or
"switched off" but far more reaction will take
place at higher temperature. It would be a good
experiment to see the temptress when the
difference becomes noticeable. I like your
question about the syrup. I do not know for sure
what would happen but here is my hypothesis: the
syrup is made of a molecule (sucrose) that is not
an oxidant in acidic conditions like in juice and
should not react with the vitamin C. But the syrup
will make the juice mixture thicker (more
viscosity) and will keep the molecules from moving
around as fast as when there wasn't syrup in the
juice. This may act to keep more of the "active"
vitamin C around for longer periods at higher
temperature. Again this sounds like a good
experiment.If you don't have enough vitamin C in
your body for long periods you can develop a
condition called Scurvy. This was found often in
sailors when they would be at sea for many months
without access to fruit or vegetables. Scurvy
causes the collagen in your skin (the stuff that
makes your skin stretchy) to break down, damaging
your skin and gums.Different vitamins have
different structures, perform different functions
and not all of them are antioxidants. For those
that are antioxidants, boiling would speed up the
rate at which they react with oxidants and "switch
off". | | Answer 2:
Here's how you could test it: vitamin C is
ascorbic acid. It makes the fluid it's in more
acidic. Red cabbage juice is a pH indicator; it
changes color depending on how acid a solution is.
So, buy some red cabbage, extract juice out of it
(by cooking it), and keep that juice aside. Then,
subject your vitamin C treatments to a range of
temperatures, including one that you did not cook
at all. Finally, add some cabbage juice to each of
your boiled/heated/not heated citrus juice
treatments, and see which one(s) have different
colors. | | Answer 3:
I think you have a nice hypothesis, but a
slight change of wording would be more correct.
Boiled juice would have less active vitamin C but
not less because it does not leave the juice when
you cook it. Here is why. Vitamin C or ascorbic
acid is a type of molecule called an antioxidant.
Antioxidant molecules (there are many different
types vitamin E and many of the molecules that
make berries red or blue) in the body are very
useful because they prevent damage to cells,
proteins and your DNA by reacting with other
molecules that would oxidize (or take away
electrons) from these important structures. When
an antioxidant encounters an oxidant, the two
react and the antioxidant gives up some of its
electrons to the oxidant molecule. This reaction
can change structure of the antioxidant molecule
and effectively shutting it off to react with the
next oxidant it runs into. This type of reaction
is a redox reaction where one molecule is oxidized
(the antioxidant or vitamin C) and the other is
reduced (chemistry talk for gained electrons).
Oxidants in the body can be metal ions like copper
ions or free radicals. Free radicals can be
created by UV light and breaks a bond in a
molecule that leaves a free electron. Electrons
like to stay in pairs, and that molecule with the
unpaired electron looks for an electron it can to
make a pair. If the electron it finds to make its
pair is in your DNA it can cause damage to your
DNA and possible lead to in the worst cases to
cancer. In general, a chemical reaction
happens more quickly at higher temperature, since
the molecules are moving around faster and are
more likely to bump into one another and cause a
reaction. Even in cold juice vitamin C can react
with oxidants in the juice and be oxidized or
"switched off" but far more reaction will take
place at higher temperature. It would be a good
experiment to see the temptress when the
difference becomes noticeable. I like your
question about the syrup. I do not know for sure
what would happen but here is my hypothesis: the
syrup is made of a molecule (sucrose) that is not
an oxidant in acidic conditions like in juice and
should not react with the vitamin C. But the syrup
will make the juice mixture thicker (more
viscosity) and will keep the molecules from moving
around as fast as when there wasn't syrup in the
juice. This may act to keep more of the "active"
vitamin C around for longer periods at higher
temperature. Again this sounds like a good
experiment.If you don't have enough vitamin C in
your body for long periods you can develop a
condition called Scurvy. This was found often in
sailors when they would be at sea for many months
without access to fruit or vegetables. Scurvy
causes the collagen in your skin (the stuff that
makes your skin stretchy) to break down, damaging
your skin and gums.Different vitamins have
different structures, perform different functions
and not all of them are antioxidants. For those
that are antioxidants, boiling would speed up the
rate at which they react with oxidants and "switch
off". | | Answer 4:
All of your questions about Vitamin C sound like good Science Fair projects. You can start at the highest temperature, and see how much Vitamin C is lost. Then you can test lower temperatures. The questions about sugar and freezing are also
questions you can answer in your science fair
project. If you don't have enough Vitamin C
in you, you get a disease called Scurvy. You can
find the details on the internet, but I think your
gums start to bleed a lot. Different
vitamins will break down different amounts when
you heat them or boil them. That is because they
have different chemical structures that are more
or less damaged by heating. Do you have a
good way to measure Vitamin C for your science
project? Click Here to return to the search form.
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