Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Will corn sugar and sucrose have a specific difference to each other (when amounts are the same) when being measured for specific gravity, then being converted to the brix scale? If so, how does one convert corn sugar levels to sucrose? Help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Hello macricl,

"Corn sugar" is a confusing term because different organizations use the term for different things.

The U.S. FDA uses "corn sugar" to mean glucose because that's what occurs naturally in corn. The sweetened beverage industry has adopted the term "corn sugar" for a mixture of glucose and fructose that is nearer the sweetness of sucrose derived from cane. A web search for "corn sugar" will turn up a lot of scientific and political discussion of the issues arising from the use of these sugars in food products.

So, which use of "corn sugar" do you intend?

If you compare a solution of glucose to a solution of sucrose, you will find some differences in sweetness between solutions of the same specific gravity. You can find some details of specific gravity versus Brix at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brix.

See also https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p063.shtml and https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p028.shtml.

Good luck, WW