Materials Required:
l Vitamin C tablet
l Cup
l Water
l Spoon
l Paring knife
l Peach
l 2 plates
The help of one of your parents
Procedure:
- Place a vitamin C tablet in a cup of water. Stir with a spoon until the pill has dissolved.
- Ask one of your parents to peel a peach, using a small paring knife, then cut it into several slices. Place an equal amount of peach slices on two separate plates.
- Place several spoonfuls of plain water over one set of slices. On the other peach set, place some spoon of the vitamin C solution you made in Step 1.
- After several minutes have passed, compare the colour of the peaches in both groups. The set that received the plain water has started to turn brown. But the peaches that received the vitamin C treatment retain their fresh colour. Can you explain why?
This Is What Happens:
When oxygen touches the surface of cut fruit, it causes a chemical reaction, which makes the fruit turn brown. Vitamin C is called an antioxidant because it prevents oxygen from combining with the fruit. That’s why the vitamin C covered peaches didn’t turn brown. Lemon juice contains lots of vitamin C, and cooks sometimes use it on apple slices so they won’t turn brown before they are ready to be cooked.
