Science Fair Experiments that get good grades – Experiment #18 - Science with Candy

Did you know there are science fair experiments that involve candy? It’s true. Have you ever thought about what exactly makes candy certain colors? In this project, you will use paper chromatography to determine which dyes are used in the candy coatings. You will do this by comparing the unknown components of colored candy dyes with the known components of food coloring dyes.  

As far as difficulty levels of science fair experiments, this one is about average. You will only need about a day or two to do the experimentation, and most material should be readily available. The only thing you need is a willingness to experiment on candy. Tough project, huh?   

Before you begin the project, you should know the following important themes and ideas:

1.                 cohesion and adhesion forces

2.                 capillary action

3.                 paper chromatography

4.                 stationary phase

5.                 mobile phase

6.                 hydrophilic

7.                 hydrophobic

8.                 retention factor

9.                 solvent

10.       solution

By the way, a great resource is the science project blog. Definitely worth checking out.

What you need for this experiment:

·         a color coated candy like Skittle

·         30 of the same sized strips of chromatography paper

·         jar with a wide mouth

·         pencil

·         ruler

·         tape

·         salt

·         water

·         toothpicks

• blue, green and red food dye

Steps for science fair experiments involving candy chromatography:

1)      First you must do a thorough background research on the terms and concepts mentioned above.

2)      Take a pencil and mark on each strip of paper which color of candy or food dye will appear on the paper.  A pen’s ink will run and cause mixed results so be sure to use pencil.

3)      Create an origin line using a pencil about 2 cm away from the edge on each strip.

4)      Next, you will have to take out some of the dye from each piece of candy that you want to test.

a)      Place the candy on a plate and add to it a single drop of water.

b)      Let it sit for a couple of minutes so the dye can dissolve.

c)       After the candy has soaked, take a clean toothpick and dip it into the colored water drop.

d)      Transfer the colored dye solution onto the chromatography strip of paper by taking the toothpick and touching it to the paper strip, at the middle of your origin line.

e)      Let the colored spot dry. Do this spotting technique at least three times.

f)        For every candy you wish to test, you need to create five separate chromatography strips.

5)      For every different color of candy that you test, repeat the fourth step.  Make sure you test at least three colors.

6)      Next, you need to create your compounds by preparing chromatography paper strips with colored food dye. These strips will make your known compounds that you will eventually compare to the unknown compounds.  Use your procedure from Step 4 for each food coloring color.

7)      Next, you need to prepare your chromatography solvent by creating a 1% solution of salt. Combine 1/8 of a teaspoon of salt with 3 cups of water. Dissolve the salt into the water by shaking or stirring.

8)      Using your jar with the wide mouth, pour in just a small portion of the salt solution. Attach the paper strip to a pencil and then let it sit on the mouth of the jar, letting just the paper dangle into the jar and touch the solvent solution.

9)      Allow the solvent to raise from the water and into the strip until it reaches almost to the top, then remove it from your solvent.

10) Using a pencil, make a mark of how high it rose.

11) Use the five identical paper strips for each different color of candy or food dye.

12) Compare the results from the various colored candies and for the food dyes.

To help you with your own project, take a look at some of the links next to this article. By the way, AwesomeScienceProjects has great step-by-step videos on how to do winning science fair projects. Good luck!