Absorption project for dyeing fabrics

[aliana5717]

Hello,
I am interested in doing this experiment in my school's science fair coming up. I have decided to look at how pH affects the adsorption of the dye but I have some things that I would like help on. I know that Kool-Aid already is acidic which may affect my results, so I am wondering about neutralizing the Kool-Aid empirically. Meaning I need to know the acidity of the Kool-Aid solution so that it can undergo a neutralization reaction, but how might I go about determining the pH? Also, I realize that Kool-Aid has a lot of other additives in the powder, is there a reason why Kool-Aid was chosen over using a standard food colouring? (Is there potentially a greater concentration of red 40 or would using food colour yield similar results?). In addition, is there a way for me to figure out how much dye or red 40 is present in the powder? For instance, x amount of red 40 per gram of Koolaid mixture. My last inquiry might be difficult to answer, however, I was looking into performing column chromatography to isolate the Kool-Aid dye, however, I don't know much about the chemical process, would doing chromatography on cherry Koolaid separate the red 40 for use or would all the other chemicals still be present and nothing really changes about the composition.
If anyone could help me with any of these questions that would be great!
Thank you so much,
Aliana


Administrator note: Project link: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... adsorption -- Also, please note that in the Calibration section, step 4, it notes: "Note: One pack (15.6 g) of unsweetened cherry Kool-Aid singles drink mix contains 47 mg of Red 40 food dye."

[imogenayer]

To determine the pH of Kool-Aid, you can use pH test strips or a pH meter. Kool-Aid may have been chosen due to its specific composition and known dye content. You can calculate the concentration of red 40 in Kool-Aid by knowing the amount of dye per pack and the weight of the pack. Column chromatography can help isolate red 40 from Kool-Aid, but it may not separate all other components completely.