PowderAde Lab

Ms. Leland assigned us a virtual lab that experimented with different concentrations of “PowderAde.” PowderAde is a bit like Kool Aid. To create a PowderAde, a red powder containing sugar and other flavors acts as a solute, and distilled water is the solvent. 

If the drink is lighter in color, it is less concentrated. If the drink is darker in color, it is more concentrated. Therefore, Diego’s drink is less concentrated than Mia’s drink.

The reason that the drinks appear red is because they absorb green light. When the eye sees it, the drink appears red. Diego’s drink absorbs 0.36 amount of green light. 

By finding out the amount of water and PowderAde mix needed to create Diego’s drink, the concentration in grams/liter can be determined. I added 250 mL of distilled water to a 600 mL beaker, and I added 15 grams of PowderAde mix. I added to PowderAde mix 0.5 grams at a time.

This is the formula used to determine the concentration of Diego’s drink. The amount of PowderAde added and the amount of water added is based on the mixture I created before. 

Mia’s drink absorbs about 0.48 amount of green light. This essential in finding the concentration of Mia’s drink.

To find out the concentration of Mia’s drink in grams/liters, I had to replicate her drink. I added 250 mL of distilled water to a 600 mL beaker, and I added 20 grams of PowderAde mix. I added to PowderAde mix 0.5 grams at a time.

I used this formula to determine the concentration of Mia’s drink in grams/liter.

If Diego used 500 mL of water to make his drink, he would need to add 30 grams of PowderAde mix.  

To test that this formula works, I added 500 mL of water to a 600 mL beaker, and I added 30 grams of PowderAde mix. It worked because the amount of green light absorbed, 0.36, in Diego’s original drink matches the amount of green light absorbed in this drink.

Because we found out that the concentration of Mia’s drink is 80 g/L, this equation shows that Mia should add 28 grams of PowderAde mix to 350 mL of water to create her drink.

To test that this formula works, I added 350 mL of water to a 600 mL beaker, and I added 28 grams of PowderAde mix. It worked because the amount of green light absorbed, 0.48, in Mia’s original drink matches the amount of green light absorbed in this drink.

Since each packet of PowderAde contains 30 grams of mix, Diego can create 500 mL of PowderAde using an entire packet. This is because the concentration of his drink is 60 g/L.

To test this formula, I added 30 grams (an entire packet) of PowderAde mix to 500 mL of water. This resulted in a PowderAde drink with the same concentration as Diego’s drink.

Mia can create 375 mL of PowderAde with an entire packet. This was based on the fact that her desired concentration is 80 g/L.

When a whole packet of PowderAde mix (30 grams) is added to 375 mL of water, it results in PowderAde with the same concentration as Mia’s drink.

In 500 mL of Diego’s drink he is consuming 14 grams of sugar. This is based on the fact that PowderAde mix is 45% sugar.

In 350 mL of Mia’s drink, she will be consuming about 13 grams of sugar.

If Diego consumes 500 mL of his drink, he will be drinking more sugar than Mia will if she drinks 350 mL of her drink. However, Mia’s drink has a higher concentration of sugar than Diego’s. The reason why Mia’s drink has a higher concentration of sugar, but 500 mL of Diego’s drink has more sugar than 350 mL of Mia’s drink is because Diego’s drink has more volume. The amount of sugar relates to the volume of the drink and the concentration of the PowderAde because the concentration of PowderAde determines how much sugar will be in the drink based on the volume.

Solutions are created when a solute and a solvent are combined. In this lab, PowderAde mix was the solute, and distilled water was the solvent. When a solution is concentrated, it means that there is more solute and less solvent. There are a few variables that affect the concentration of solutions. One example is the amount of solvent because a mixture with more solvent will be less concentrated than a mixture with less solvent. The same goes for the amount of solute. A mixture with more solute is more concentrated than a mixture with less solute. In conclusion, virtually experimenting with different concentrations of PowderAde helped me understand the effect that concentration has on a solution.