TEACHER RESOURCE PAGE

Exploration Lab

CONSUMER

Identifying Food Nutrients

Teacher Notes
TIME REQUIRED Two 45-minute periods
SKILLS ACQUIRED

Collecting data
Identifying and recognizing patterns
Interpreting
Measuring
Organizing and analyzing data
RATINGS

Teacher Prep3
Student Setup3
Concept Level2
Cleanup4
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

Make Observations Students observe how various indicators react in the

presence of certain known and unknown substances.
Analyze the Results Analysis questions 1 and 2 require students to analyze
their results.
Draw Conclusions Conclusions questions 1 and 2 ask students to draw
conclusions from their data.
MATERIALS

Materials for this lab can be purchased from WARDs. See the Master Materials
List for ordering instructions.
SAFETY CAUTIONS

Discuss all safety symbols and caution statements with students.

Lugols iodine is a poison and irritant. Avoid eye and skin contact; do not ingest.
This material will stain skin and clothing. The chemicals used in this lab can cause
serious eye damage. If students get iodine in their eyes, they should immediately
go to the eyewash station, flush their eyes with water for at least 15 minutes, and
then get professional medical attention.
CAUTION: Do not use an ignition source, such as an open flame to heat the
water bath. Be sure there are no sources of ignition in the room when preparing
Sudan III. Restrict the amount of Sudan III in each dispensing bottle to 100 mL.

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Identifying Food Nutrients continued

TIPS AND TRICKS

Preparation

This lab works best in groups of two to four students.

Wear safety goggles and a lab apron when you prepare the solutions below.
Prepare the unknown by mixing the following ingredients for each lab group:
50 g of mashed pinto beans or rehydrated bean flakes, 35 g of sour cream, 4 mL of
salad oil, 4 g of soluble starch, and 5 mL of glucose. Thin the mixture with whole
milk until it has a wet consistency. This unknown will test positive for all nutrients
given in Table 2. You may want to make an unknown that does not contain some
of the nutrients. For example, you might leave out the glucose.
Benedicts solution should be purchased, not made.
Lugols iodine (iodine-iodide) solution is available ready-made. CAUTION:
Iodine reacts with metal, skin, and many other substances. To make Lugols
iodine, dissolve 1.0 g of potassium iodide, KI, in 15 mL of distilled water in a
250 mL beaker. Add 0.7 g of iodine, I2, and stir until dissolved, adding no more
than 50 mL of water, if desired, to facilitate dissolution. Dilute to 100 mL while
stirring well. Dispense in amber-colored dropper bottles labeled Lugols iodine
solution. Sunlight or strong light can cause the solution to deteriorate.
Biuret solution is available ready-made. CAUTION: Biuret reagent is a
caustic solution. Avoid spilling it on yourself or others. Dissolve 8.0 g of
sodium hydroxide, NaOH, in 100 mL of water in a flask. Add 1.0 g of copper
sulfate. Stopper and shake the flask. Dispense in dropper bottles labeled biuret
reagent. It can be stored for long periods of time.
Sudan III is available ready-made. To prepare a 2% stock solution of Sudan III,
add 2 g of Sudan III to a flask and dilute to a final volume of 100 mL with
undiluted ethyl alcohol. Just before using, mix the stock solution with an equal
amount of 45% ethyl alcohol. Dispense in dropper bottles labeled Sudan III.

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Exploration Lab

CONSUMER

Identifying Food Nutrients

The food you eat contains nutrients important to your body. Sugars, starches,
proteins, and lipids are examples of nutrients that are organic compounds.
You can perform qualitative tests to detect the presence of organic compounds
in food, using indicators, chemical substances that react in a certain way when a
particular substance is present. Benedicts solution is used to detect the presence
of reducing sugars, such as glucose. Lugols iodine solution is used to detect the
presence of starch. Biuret solution is used to identify the presence of protein.
Sudan III is used to detect the presence of lipids. A standard is a positive test for a
known substance. Unknown substances can be tested and compared with the
standard for positive identification of the substance.
In this lab, you will use standards to analyze an unknown food for the presence
of different organic compounds.
OBJECTIVES

Test samples for the presence of organic compounds.

Relate indicator reactions to the presence of organic nutrients.
Recognize a standard.
PRE-LAB QUESTIONS
1. What is an indicator? What are they used for in this experiment?
2. Why do you need to test water for the presence of organic molecules in
this experiment?

MATERIALS

safety goggles, lab apron, protective gloves

albumin (protein) solution Lugols iodine solution
Benedicts solution
sharpie
biuret solution
spatula
dropping pipets (3)
starch solution
glucose solution
Brown Paper Bag
hot water bath
test tubes (3)

test-tube rack
unknown
vegetable oil
water, distilled

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Procedure
1. Fill Table 1, using information from the introduction above and from your
textbook. You will fill in the third row (Positive result) as you test for each
nutrient.
TABLE 1 STANDARDS DATA
Substance role

Glucose

Starch

Protein

Lipid

Nutritional
Indicator
Positive result

2. Put on safety goggles and a lab apron.

3. Use a spatula to place a small amount of the unknown in a test tube labeled
unknown. Add 20 mL of water, and gently swirl to dilute the unknown.
TESTING FOR GLUCOSE

4. Select three clean test tubes to perform the Benedicts test. With a sharpie,
label the tops of the test tubes 1, 2, and 3. To test tube 1, add 40 drops of
glucose. To test tube 2, add 40 drops of the unknown. To test tube 3, add 40
drops of water.
5. Add 10 drops of Benedicts solution to each test tube. CAUTION: If you get
Benedicts solution on your skin or clothing or in your eyes, rinse it
immediately, and alert your teacher. Heat the test tubes in a hot water bath
with a temperature range of 4050C for approximately 5 minutes.
In which test tubes do you see a reaction?
_______________________________________________________________
What color change occurs when Benedicts solution is heated in the presence of
this substance?
_______________________________________________________________
In Table 1, record the color change that occurred, which indicates a positive
result. Record the information about test tube 2 in Table 2. Indicate whether
glucose is present (+) or not (-) and any color change that you observed.

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Identifying Food Nutrients continued

TABLE 2 UNKNOWN DATA
Nutrient

Presence (+/-)

Observation

Lipid
Starch
Glucose
Protein
TESTING FOR STARCH

6. Clean and dry your test tubes to perform the Lugols iodine test. With a
sharpie, re-label the tops of the test tubes 1, 2, and 3 (if necessary). To
test tube 1, add 40 drops of starch. To test tube 2, add 40 drops of the
unknown. To test tube 3, add 40 drops of water.
7. Add 2 drops of Lugols iodine solution to each test tube. CAUTION: Lugols
solution will stain your skin and clothing. Promptly wash off spills to
minimize staining.
What color change occurs when Lugols iodine solution is in the presence
of starch?
_______________________________________________________________
Record the color change in Table 1. Record the information about test tube 2
in Table 2.
TESTING FOR PROTEIN

8. Clean and dry your test tubes to perform the Biurets test. With a sharpie, relabel the tops of the test tubes 1, 2, and 3 (if necessary). To test tube 1,
add 40 drops of albumin solution (a protein). To test tube 2, add 40 drops of
the unknown. To test tube 3, add 40 drops of water.
9. Add 3 drops of biuret solution to each test tube. CAUTION: If you get biuret
solution on your skin or clothing or in your eyes, rinse it immediately, and
alert your teacher. Clean out your test tubes and return them to the rack.
What color change occurs when biuret solution is in the presence of protein?
_______________________________________________________________
Record the color in Table 1. Record the information about test tube 2 in
Table 2.
TESTING FOR LIPID

10. Locate the brown paper bag at your station. With a sharpie, create three
columns on your brown paper bag and label the tops of each column 1, 2,
and 3. To column 1, add 2 drops of vegetable oil. To column 2, add 2drops
of the unknown. To column 3, add 2 drops of water.

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Identifying Food Nutrients continued

11. Set the paper bag aside and let dry.

What change to the paper bag occurs when lipids show a positive reaction?
_______________________________________________________________
Record the change in Table 1. Record the information about column 2 in
Table 2.
12. Dispose of your materials according to your teachers instructions.
13. Clean up your work area, and wash your hands before leaving the lab.

Analysis
1. Examining Data What are the controls in this lab?
_______________________________________________________________
2. Organizing Data Which indicator detects the presence of glucose? starch?
protein?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

Conclusions
3. Drawing Conclusions What can you conclude about the unknown food, based
on your data?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
4. Drawing Conclusions You are asked to analyze and compare a food substance
with standards for organic compounds. You observe a positive response with
Lugols iodine solution and biuret solution. What can you conclude about this
food?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

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