Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

In my project, I will be finding the sugar content of different soda brands. I am going to use a hydrometer to do so. My question is how do you convert a liquid's density levels to is sugar content (Brix)?

macricl - Attached is a link to a Brix to specific gravity table. One caution, this table implies that the sugar is in the form of sucrose. Most sweetened soft drinks contain corn based sweetening products so have a slightly different specific gravity. I believe that there are a few specialty soft drinks (Coca Cola manufactured in Mexico and imported to the US, for example) that use sucrose only sweeteners, but you may have to do some research on how to correct for that difference.

Rick Marz

http://www.fermsoft.com/gravbrix.php

I am doing a similar project and was wondering how to use a hydrometer. I tried just dropping it into a 2 Liter bottle filled with the soda, but it did not work. I am also a little confused on what brinx is. I need help asap!

EMRhockey17 and macricl,

The carbon dioxide may also affect the density of the soda and may attach bubbles to the hydrometer, so I suggest that you let the carbonation evaporate before you take your measurements.

There's not much to using a hydrometer. You just place it in the liquid to be measured and read off the density from the scale in the long neck of the hydrometer. Be sure you have a hydrometer designed to read sugar concentrations in water. Other types might not work for your needs: either floating too high or sinking.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brix for a definition of how the Brix scale relates to sugar content. The table provided by rmarz gives Brix versus specific gravity or density.

Im doing kind of the same project but Im not using a hydrometer. Im dropping objects into different liquids and seeing if they sink or float. If anybody could help me, That would be great