Lab 2e- Variation in the Structure and Properties of Carbohydrates
Purpose What is the structure, taste and texture of different carbohydrates?
Materials
Procedure Part 1
Materials
- Sucrose
- Glucose
- Fructose
- Galactose
- Maltose
- Lactose
- Starch
- Cellulose
- Petri dishes, 60x15 mm, sterile
- Plastic spoons
- Paper cups
- Tap water
Procedure Part 1
- Go onto the internet and find each carbohydrate and find the image of the structure, put onto website.
- Place a spoon full of each carbohydrate on a paper towel, labeled.
- Lick your finger and taste each without double dipping.
- Rate the sweetness of each with a scale defined.
- On a table record for each after looking up the function and type.
Characteristics of Various Carbohydrates
Based on a scale from 1-10
0 being not sweet
10 being the sweetest
0 being not sweet
10 being the sweetest
Data Analysis/Conclusion
We got different results for many of the different carbohydrates. The sweetest carbohydrate was fructose.The number of rings affects the sweetness of the carbohydrate. Some consistent characteristics of the different carbs were that all of them were either powdery or granular. A lot of their functions had to do with energy. All my group members, or testers, had the same results and ratings for the carbohydrates sweetness. The rating for each carb could be different to other testers due to their sense of taste, how much they consumed, or if anything previously eaten was making it harder for the tester to make an accurate rating. Glucose, fructose, and galactose all have the same structure because they only have one sugar ring and similar bonds.
Reflection
This lab was very different from any other lab i have done. I don't believe i have ever eaten part of my procedure, which was fun. My group worked well together and we discussed our ratings with one others to make sure we had similar tastings. I also like that we weren't in a small group, instead the whole table was involved and discussing ratings. Some of the carbs had an extremely sweet taste and other tasted like flour which wasn't appealing at all. One thing my table did was split up different jobs and research each carb to find the information need for our results. My partner, Sarah, and I worked together however it was still more of a group/table effort. Something we could have improved on was not eating all the materials, even thought they were delicious. Overall, it was an incredibly interesting and collaborative lab with lots of sugar!