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Urgent: Chemistry IA Electrolysis


Jerry Ludwig

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For my IA, I am trying to determine the conductance (ion flow) in different drinks such as distilled water, Gatorade, Powerade, coconut water, orange juice, Pedialyte, and a solution containing sodium chloride. I was planning on doing this by using a digital multimeter and measuring the resistance of the substance and then taking the inverse of it to get the conductance.  I would determine whichever substance had the highest conductance and by doing so, would be able to find the substance with the most electrolytes. Growing up playing sports, I have always been told the importance of staying hydrated as well as replenishing electrolytes after vigorous exercise, and I was interested to see if sports drinks like Gatorade and Powerade were really the best substances for athletes to drink as these companies have claimed.

I am worried that my "experiment" is too simplistic since I don't really have any variables. I was wondering if this was enough to do for the IA or if not, I was wondering if there is a way I could alter the experiment a little bit so that it would be more challenging. One idea I had was to take the ingredients of the different substances and "rebuild" the electrolytes found in them. For example, Gatorade contains 230 mg of sodium in 500 mL and 65 mg of potassium, and I was planning on creating a solution with the same concentration of sodium and another with the same concentration of potassium. Then I would add up the conductance of both substances and compare it to the original Gatorade. I have no idea if this would work or even if it makes sense.

Thanks in advance,

Jerry

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First you should understand that sodium, on a nutrition label, is not the sodium element, but the sodium ion. Sodium element and water react quite harshly. Therefore there are counterions, or anions, also present in the solution, and you should determine if these counter-ions affect the conductivity (which I do not know the answer to). Moreover, I am not convinced that conductance, a physical property of a solution, alone is enough for a chemistry IA. All it seems, and forgive me if I misunderstood, is that you want to take salts, dissolve in water; I just don't think that's enough. Dissolving salts in water is not electrolysis. 

The idea of aiming to replicating some phenomenon (which is different from replicating some procedure) is ok, you don't technically need variables. However, you should review your chemistry knowledge and pick a topic of which you know very well conceptually.

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