Class: BE210
Group: R5
Members:
FACILITATOR .. Jeffrey Katrencik
TIME & TASK KEEPER Samuel Kahn
SCRIBE .. Daniel Obeng
PRESENTER . Jeffrey Katrencik
Date: May, 2002
Abstract:
The objective of this project was to devise an effective method of
extracting potassium from a banana, and then use that method of extraction
to measure the K concentration of a whole banana using atomic absorption
spectroscopy. Our devised repeating procedure of blending the banana
with water, adding HCl, mixing, centrifuging, and testing the supernatent
yielded significant levels of potassium with the first two iterations,
and then became insignificant as all the potassium was extracted.
On three separate days of trials, we obtained values of 4.472 mg/g, 4.168
mg/g, and 4.451 mg/g, respectively, by testing the extracted solutions
in the atomic absorption spectrophotometer and back-calculating a value
against a calibration curve. Using these averages, our conclusion
is that a banana has between 3.262 and 5.466 mg/g of potassium.