About My Research

1. Cleaning with Food About My Research IRS Project by Lee Vint Ve Results-Continued 1. My Research Topic 1. Analysis The aims of this project is to: - Find the best household substitute for detergent and to help make cleaning grease off Tupperware and similar materials easier - To provide a cheap and easy alternative to detergent to use on grease in general in case detergent runs out and is not easily available. - I have found surprisingly high level of acid in some of the foodstuffs that I tested and some of the acids have been known to be used in commercial detergent and other cleaning agents. • Diluted lemon juice is the best household substitute for dishwashing liquid, with vinegar coming next, then sprite. • - The cleaning ability of the tested liquid is much lower than the citric acid which is found in lemons and Sprite. However, Sprite has less concentration of citric acid than lemons, with vinegar coming second as it contains ethanoic acid, which has a cleaning ability between that of Citric acid found in Sprite and lemons and phosphoric acid which is found in Coca-cola and Pepsi. • Coca-Cola had, up to some extent, cleaning properties, however has not proven to be effective cleaning agent and did badly compared to lemon juice. Although Coca-Cola and Pepsi have vast amounts of phosphoric acid, but the cleaning abilities are less than lemon and Sprite’s. • - Baking soda solution worked well during the soak test but did not fare as well during my scrub test as the baking soda took a longer time to react and mix with the water and with the grease, but I did not give it time to do so. • - Also, the baking soda might only work if given time to react with the water and grease, which higher temperatures could speed up, therefore the possible need of heated water. 2. Background information -The science behind the experiment centres around the ability of certain weak acids (commonly found in foods) to break down and ultimately, remove grease stains off materials such as Tupperware. - Some acids, like citric acid, found in lemon juice and some brands of flavoured drinks, have been known to be used in dishwashing liquid. 3. Reason For this topic - I have been constantly hearing the myth (first from my Primary One teacher) that coke has cleaning properties. - Also, it was mentioned on the popular documentary series Mythbusters. - That was enough to make me wonder about cleaning properties in other foodstuff, and how it can be applied onto real-life applications (and to make the labour of dishwashing easier). - I also started to wonder about the science behind the cleaning property of coca-cola. Conclusion & Acknowledgements 1. Conclusion of Experiment The Experiment - My conclusion is that foods containing citric acid are the most effective cleaning substitutes of detergent with Ethanoic acid being next and lastly phosphoric acid, with lemon being the best substitute due to its extremely high concentration of citric acid. 1. Steps for the Experiment Scrub Test 1. Pour a spoonful of cooking oil (grease) and rub it on the surface of the tupperware 2. Pour 100ml of the testing liquid (listed below) into the container 3. Use a sponge and scrubbed the tupperware for exactly 60 seconds 4. Remove the remaining testing liquid in the container 5. Use pieces of tissue paper to rub the remaining grease off, then recorded the results Soak Test 6. Repeat step 1 and 2, with the same amount of grease but 500ml of testing liquid 7. Leave the set-ups for 24 hours 8. Repeat stops 4 and 5 2. References Wikipedia(2010) Citric Acid- Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia [online]. Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citric_acid. Accessed on 5 July 2010. MizkanAmericas,inc(2010) Vinegar Tips: Cleaning with vinegar [online]. Available from http://www.vinegartips.com/scripts/pageViewSec.asp?id=7. Accessed on 10 July 2010. T. Zeigler(2000) Coke: A Household Cleaner[online]. Available from http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_coca_cola.htm . Accessed on 10 July 2010 Break The Chain(2003) Break The Chain-Have a Coke and have a Snarl[online]. Available from http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/coke.html . Accessed on 23 June 2010. Wikipedia(2010) Bile- Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia [online]. Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bile. Accessed on 10 September. Mallinckrodt Baker, Inc. (2010) PHOSPHORIC ACID [online]. Available from http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/p3973.htm. Accessed 15 August Special thanks: Iwould also like to thank my teacher mentors Mrs Esther Koh, Mrs Koh Yong Yong, and Mr Daniel Guan for their support, and my parents for helping me in the experiment Results Pictures Results of Soak Test Scrub Test Set-up Results of Scrub Test Soak Test Set-up