Barc_Barco Posted August 9, 2017 Report Share Posted August 9, 2017 Hi! I’m currently doing my IB Chemistry EE with the topic of Anaemia I’m investigating the effects of putting iron objects in food while cooking to see if that raises its iron content. I got the idea from http://www.luckyironfish.com/ a project started a couple of years ago to treat anaemia in Cambodia. I’m having trouble with a research question for this, as I don’t quite know what to focus in on. I thought I’d try to replicate the experiment with just a piece of iron; placing iron nails in a pot of water to see if the iron content would go up, and do my EE as an evaluation and comparison of both the Lucky Iron Fish and ordinary pieces of iron But the one dead end I had was that I didn’t have a way to measure the iron concentration of the water. I thought what I would do is pump the water with air to make Ferrous (II) oxide, as Fe II is the best absorbed form of iron. Then I would use colorimetry to measure the concentration but I need at least one sample of FeO with a known concentration so that I can perform the calculations. What are your thoughts on this, and are there any other ways to find the concentration of Iron? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kw0573 Posted August 9, 2017 Report Share Posted August 9, 2017 You can try potentiometry and ion-exchange electrodes to use electrical gradients to measure concentration. If you want to use a reaction to measure concentration then it's best to do a titration of some sort so you can change how much reactants to add. However I am not convinced that you can include and explain enough chemistry in your topic as-is. 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barc_Barco Posted August 13, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2017 What would you suggest to "beef up" the EE? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kw0573 Posted August 13, 2017 Report Share Posted August 13, 2017 Include some reaction. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barc_Barco Posted August 13, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2017 I've done some research and have revised my topic: I'm planning on comparing the amount of iron absorbed in absolute terms (Fe only) by measuring the change in mass of the iron nail before and after cooking. Then, I would react the iron in the water to create Ferrous Sulfate, and measure its concentration. (This is because Fe II is the best absorbed form of iron). I would then compare the two. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kw0573 Posted August 13, 2017 Report Share Posted August 13, 2017 It's interesting. The whole idea is workable but one downside is that there are a lot of uncertainties introduced. You may want to start writing a procedure first to see if you have all the material. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barc_Barco Posted August 13, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2017 I do have access to materials. My one concern is that the change in the mass of the nail will be too small to measure. You mentioned uncertainties; could you be more specific? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kw0573 Posted August 13, 2017 Report Share Posted August 13, 2017 Uncertainties from experiments; like propagating uncertainties. 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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