Cola and Cola
light contains ions of phosphoric and citric acid. So they should have
have a high electric conductivity. During distillation these ions are separated from the
water. In the following experiment the electric conductivity of different
water samples (Photo 1 - 4) is measured.
Material
Tray, digital
AC/DC multimeter with a range between 20 and 200 mA AC, 3 cables
with crocodile clips, AC/AC adaptor ("Netzgerät") ( Conrad order Nr. 510004-55, price 5 €),
wellplate 6 (WP6) with lids, 2 pins, 4 plastic barrel pipettes, drinking
straw spatula, stale samples of Cola, Cola light, Cola distillate, sodium
sulfate ("Glauber salt").
Experiment
1. Transfer
3 mL of the following solutions into wells 1 - 4 of WP6: Cola distillate
(1), Cola (2), Cola light (3 und 4).
2. Connect
the input "COM" of the AC/AC multimeter with the AC/AC adaptor and its output
with one of the pins.
3. Connect
the input "Amp" of the AC/AC multimeter with the second
pin.
4. Set the multimeter to 20 mA DC.
5. Photo
1: Close the circuit starting with well 1 by dipping the two pins into
distilled water.
6. Write down
the current.
7. Repeat 5 and 6 with well
2 containing Cola (Photo 2) and mit Cola light (Photo 3).
8. Photo
4: Add a spatula tip of Glauber salt (sodium sulfate to Cola light
in well 4, stirr and repeat the measurement.
Observations
see Figs.
1 - 4
Explanation
The current
depends on the concentration of ions dissolved in the liquid. Distilled water
or Cola-distillate (Fig. 1) have the lowest concentration, Cola with dissoved
Glauber salt (Fig. 4) the highest.
The higher conductivity of Cola light is due to the fact that it contains
not only ions of phosphoric acid but also of citric acid.