Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

How do we test for how much iron and calcium is in food? I want to know how to test for it, what equipment we need, any chemicals and how to show HOW MUCH of that mineral is in the food. Thank you in advance

Hi!

What kind of foods are you looking at specifically? That may alter the methods you use.
As I understand it, knowing how to test for the iron and calcium content in food would determine what equipment/chemicals/amounts etc. you will need - I'll therefore try to answer your question as how to test for these nutrient contents.
Science Buddies has a project testing iron contents in water; see if this gives you some inspiration: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p089.shtml
A simple Google search might yield great results. For example, I searched "chemical test for iron in food" and found this handout.
http://dwb4.unl.edu/Chem/CHEM869K/CHEM8 ... onLab.html
Note that the above link is best suited for certain foods, so you may want to pick foods that are easy and practical to test for with both iron and calcium.
Similar searches for calcium would probably be best.

Hope this helps!