Electrolyte Challenge Sport Drinks vs. Orange Juice

I. Project Question-
The question I am trying to answer is which drink between water, Gatorade, propel, PowerAde, and a homemade drink. II. Hypothesis-
My hypothesis is that orange juice will have more electrolytes than the other drinks because of the natural electrolytes it contains from oranges. I also think that Gatorade will be the most preferred drink because of taste. III. Research-

Sport drinks are most times are divided into three groups, which are Isotonic, Hypertonic, and Hypotonic. They are categorized by the concentration of electrolytes. Isotonic sports drinks contain similar concentrations of electrolytes as those found in the human body. Hypertonic sports drinks contain higher concentrations of electrolytes than what is found in the body. Hypotonic sport drinks contain a lower concentration of electrolytes than what is contained in the body. Fruit juices on the other hand typically have higher concentrations of electrolytes compared to the human body and would be considered a hypertonic beverage.

An electrolyte is any substance that contains free ions that behaves as an electrically conductive medium (conducts electricity). There would be no life without these electrolytes. Our body’s electrolytes include sodium (Na), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), bicarbonate (HCO3), magnesium (Mg), chloride (Cl), and hydrogen carbonate (HCO3). Electrolytes also control many functions in your body. Such as regulating our nerves and muscle functions and our body’s hydration, blood pH, blood pressure and the rebuilding of damaged tissue. This is why athletes drink, sport drinks to keep their amount of electrolytes in there body up so they can compete at the highest level possible with no setbacks.

Our body’s muscles and neurons are thought by many as electric tissues in our body. These muscles and neurons are activated by electrolyte activity. When these muscles electrolyte levels get to low they get weak or they get sever contractions also known as cramps. This happens during heavy exercise; electrolytes such as potassium and sodium are lost in sweat. For these things not to happen a muscle needs the correct levels of calcium, sodium, and potassium to function correctly. These electrolytes are the main ingredients in sport drinks and are why there so helpful. Fresh fruit and vegetables are also good sources of these electrolytes which is why orange juice may have more electrolytes than sport drinks.

A multimeter is a device that measures electrical properties such as AC or DC voltage, current, and resistance. Most people use these for batteries, components, switches, power sources, and motors to diagnose electrical malfunctions and narrow down their cause. There are two main kinds of multimeter digital and analog. The one that I am using is a digital one. I know this because it has an LCD screen and it gives me a straight up decimal read out. While the other kind moves a bar through a scale of numbers and must be interpreted. Both basically do the same job and can be set to a specific sensitivity. They combine 3 different type of machines and uses and combines them so that they can be used in one machine. I’m using it to find currency. IV. Experimental Plan-

Materials:
* Orange juice
* PowerAde
* Distilled water
* Conductance sensor/multi meter
* Masking tape
* Plastic tube
* Alligator clips
* Gatorade
* Propel
* Small bowl
* 9v battery w/clip
* Copper wire
* Wires with alligator clips on them

Types of drinks (Sport drinks, orange juice) is the independent variables Conductance is the dependent variable
Control is the distilled water
Voltage of battery variable kept constant between the groups

V. Procedure-
1. Make a conductance sensor
* Wrap copper wire around a type at one end leaving 2 inches of wire
* Repeat step a with another piece of copper wire another end make sure they don’t touch
* Attach battery clip
* Attach 1 free copper wire on conductance sensor to positive terminal of 9v battery using wire with 1 alligator clip
* Attach the second copper wire from sensor to black terminal of multi meter using second alligator clip

2. Clean 6 small bowls and dry

3. Pour ¼ cup of each drink in the bowls and label it
4. Turn multi meter to direct current/200 micro amps
5. Place conductance senor in distilled water
6. Read current and chart
7. Turn multi meter to highest sensitivity
8. Dry sensor
9. Place sensor in one of 4 drinks
10. Measure and chart
11. Rinse in distilled water and dry
12. Repeat steps 9-11 for other drinks
13. Repeat steps 5-12 once more for 2 measurements
14. Average results

* To calculate conductance use G=I/V
a) G is conductance measured in Siemens
b) I is current measured in amperes(amps)
c) Vis voltage measured in volts(v)
VI. Data-

Reading 1 (micro/milliamps)| Reading 2 (micro/milliamps)| Reading 3 (micro/milliamps| Average reading in amps | Siemens| Nano Siemens| Distilled Water| 0.0| 0.0| 0.0| 0.0| 0.0| 0.0|

PowerAde| 24.3| 23.2| 23.7| 25.1| .00279| 2.79|
Gatorade| 18.4| 18.3| 18.3| 18.3| .00203| 2.03|
Propel| 11.0| 11.5| 11.4| 11.3| .00126| 1.26|
Orange Juice| 26.7| 26.9| 26.6| 26.7| .00297| 2.97|
Tap Water| 4.8| 3.4| 3.9| 4.03| 4.48*10^-4| .448|
Homemade Drinks| 20.6| 23.3| 23| 22.3| .00248| 2.48| *Distilled water is the only one measured in micro amps
*The other ones are milliamps

VII. Conclusion-
I have learned a lot of things from this project that I can use as an athlete. Things like electrolytes are needed in my body so I do not get cramps. Also that Fruit can give those electrolytes to me. And that Orange Juice is real good for me on and off the field. My hypotheses were true. My hypothesis was that Orange juice would contain more electrolytes. I based this on the fact that orange juice contains oranges which have a lot of natural electrolytes. I also said that Gatorade will be most preferred drink because of taste. I came up with that just because I like Gatorade. The things that were true were was that orange juice had the most electrolytes in them. And that out of 30 people most would prefer Gatorade than any other drink because of taste.

Bibliography-

* www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153185.php, What are Electrolytes,2013 * www.electrolyteimabalance.info/, Electrolyte Imbalance, July 21, 2012 * http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Chem_p053.shtml#summary, Electrolyte Challenge: Orange Juice vs. Sport Drinks, David Whyte, PhD, Science Buddies. 2013 * Acid-Base, Fluids, And Electrolytes made ridiculously simple. Preston Richard. 2013 * http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-a-multimeter.htm, What is a Multimeter. 2013