Food Dyes Analysis in Commercial Products Bhavika Shah December 9, 2014 Introduction: This experiment was conducted to show the use of spectroscopy, the branch of science concerned with the investigation and measurement of spectra produced when matter interacts with electromagnetic radiation, to find the concentration of dye in everyday products (Hurst). All molecules react differently when they are exposed to radiation and these reaction differences can be used to determine what the substance’s properties are. The goal of this experiment to use spectroscopy and attempt to create a calibration curve of dyes used in everyday foods. And be able to determine, with that curve, the concentration of the dye in that substance. …show more content…
The molar absorptivity read 4.1297e4 Abs. Hence, the formula A=εbc was used, where b=1, resulting in 0.524=(4.1297e4)c and c=1.268877302e-5. Discussion: The point of this experiment was to build a general knowledge base of spectroscopy and some of its applications. This experiment showed that spectroscopy can be used to test the consistency in food products and also to discover things about unknown substances. The results of the experiment show that an accurate analysis of blue dye #1 was conducted by looking at the r2 value from Graph #1. It is 0.9674 which is relatively close to 1. This demonstrated that the rest of the data collected is also accurate because of the construction of the calibration curve. Research Connection: The experiment lends to the research of Dr. Dean Martin at University of South Florida. He uses the spectrophotometer to test concentrations of organic toxins in water. The research done in this field is quite important because it is in the effort of keeping drinking water safe from dangerous chemicals and toxins and removing those that slip through very efficiently (Lab …show more content…
Their research does well with dealing with the demand for high quality food, because this raises standards for quality control, which in turn requires appropriate analytical tools to investigate food (Nawrocka and Lamorska). References: Agnieszka Nawrocka and Joanna Lamorska (2013). Determination of Food Quality by Using Spectroscopic Methods, Advances in Agrophysical Research, Prof. Stanisław Grundas (Ed.), ISBN: 978-953-51-1184-9, InTech, DOI: 10.5772/52722. Available from: http://www.intechopen.com/books/advances-in-agrophysical-research/determination-of-food-quality-by-using-spectroscopic-methodsPurdue. "Definitions of Terms." Definitions of Terms. Purdue University. Web. 01 Dec. 2014. <http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/1polymer/terms.html>. "Introduction to the Spectrophotometer."Introduction to Spectrophotometery. Web. 18 Nov. 2014. "Principles of Spectrophotometry. “Spectrophotometry. Web. 18 Nov. 2014. <http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bioslabs/methods/protein/spectrophotometer.html>. "Spectrophotometry." : Basic Principles. Web. 18 Nov.