Sodium Chloride Analysis In French Fries By: Greg Thebeau, Michael Park, Chris Rideout, Makenzie Hill

Our Investigation Our goal was to analyze the amount of Sodium Chloride (table salt) In the samples of French Fries, and compare the amount in each sample, to the stated amount to the respective franchise. Our samples included McDonald's Small Fry (2), and Burger King Small Fry(3)

Materials Our materials include: 10 50ml Beakers Blender 3 Large cups 5 Coffee filters 3 small McDonald's Fries 3 small Burger King Fries Rinse solution Micro-pipettes Distilled Water (A lot!) Sodium Ion Selective Electrode Sodium Chloride (Standard Solution) Computer Computer Interface Stirring rod Funnels Meniscus Illuminator balance

Sodium Chloride Sodium Chloride – NaCl Molar Mass = 58.44g/mol CAS Registry number=

Sodium Chloride (Table Salt) Our bodies do need a certain amount of salt to function properly. The amount varies from person to person, depending on age, size, and your amount of activity. It is a fact that people who exercise a lot need more salt, as more of it is sweated out. It is estimated that most of us consume about double of the necessary daily intake of sodium, (sodium chloride). On average the human body needs only about ¼ teaspoon per day. Doesn’t seem like much, does it? Excess consumption of salt may lead to high blood pressure, kidney problems, heart disease & strokes

Sodium Ion Selective Electrode When our solutions were prepared, we used the Sodium Ion Selective Electrode to analyze the levels of Sodium in our samples. We had first taken tests for our Standard Solutions, to find the general levels of Sodium in 10, 100, and 1000 ppm. Our Standard Solution sodium levels were: 93.7 mV (10ppm), mV (100ppm), and mV (500ppm)

Hypothesis We had assumed in our preparation that the Sodium levels would be drastically different, varying to many levels above and below the stated amount of Sodium Chloride.

Procedure First, we had bought our samples from McDonald’s and Burger King. We had weighed the mass of each sample on a balance, and recorded mass in our lab book. We had created concentrated solutions of Sodium Chloride (10ppm, 100ppm, 500ppm) as standard solutions to compare our results with our samples. We blended each of our samples in 500ml of water, and filtered the homogeneous solution into a small beaker. When all of our samples and standard solutions were prepared, we used the Sodium Ion Selective Electrode to compare every one of our samples to our ppm standards.

Samples BK g mV BK g mV BK g-143.5mV MD g mV MD g mV Insert Picture Here

Analysis Logarithms ● BK x ^ ● BK x ^ ● BK x ^ ● MD x ^ ● MD x ^ Parts Per Million (ppm) ● BK mg/L ● BK mg/L ● BK mg/L ● MD mg/L ● MD mg/L

Sodium Levels Our results were much better than we had assumed in our hypothesis. Everything seemed to co-relate properly, and our results seemed to be quite linear. BK mg BK mgInsert picture here BK mg MD mg MD mg

Conclusion As previously stated, our results were much better than we had expected. Our samples are only slightly off the quoted values which is excellent. It wouldn’t be reasonable to expect all or any of them to be the exact numbers. The food may still be terrible for you, but at least the stated values are appropriate. We had a lot of fun analyzing these products, and will hopefully in the future continue to question the foods we eat everyday, and analyze the truth behind the products. Thank you for listening to our presentation!