Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I would like to explore your project on antioxidants. I plan on getting different vitamins and spreading the powder (or gel) on an apple slice. The goal would be to see if the presence of vitamins slows the browning rate of the apple slice. Does the set up of this experiment make sense? In other words, say an apple that has vitamin e spread over it doesn't brown as fast as an apple without the vitamin, does that necessarily mean it is because of the antioxidant levels in the vitamin e? Do you have another suggestion I could try in order to test antioxidant power of specific vitamins? Thanks!

Hi mallison ,

Welcome to Science Buddies!

Your idea of using apples to measure antioxidants is an excellent idea! Here is an abbreviated project description from this website, which includes some useful background information:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ml#summary

The challenge of doing this project will be to measure the antioxidant potential of the substance you are testing. It would be best if you could measure the brown color on the surface of the apple. I don't know if there is a cell phone ap for measuring brown, but this might be an option for you.

If you can, do make dilutions of the substances you will be testing. This will give you better data.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Donna

Thanks Donna, I appreciate your help!
Michele