Electrolyte Measurement
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Background Paper
My topic is which Gatorade is better for an athlete to rehydrate after a sport. I am showing this by measuring the electrolytes in different types of Gatorade, from packets to light vs. dark colored regular Gatorade, to Gatorlyte. There are many fields of science that study Gatorade and electrolytes. Different fields and degrees you can get are Physical Activity, Physics, Biomedical Sciences, Biology, Chemistry, Higher Education, Nanotechnology, Dietetics, Bioenergetics, Leisure studies, or you could get your degree in many different types of Nutrition Science, Exercise Science, Health Science, Human Performance Science, and Kinesiology. Scientists at the Gatorade company have varying degrees in these fields.
What electrolytes do for your body is they balance fluid inside and outside your cells, they regulate chemical reactions, they keep you hydrated, and they are how you keep your muscles contracted. They do all of these through electrical charges. You lose these electrolytes when you sweat. This is why teams get affected by heat and work out; this is why they need something that can give more electrolytes during games and work outs, but the question is which type of Gatorade has the most electrolytes to refill you, which one could energize you best?
Different investigations you could go off of this topic are: Why, when we sweat, do we lose electrolytes? What happens if we work out and never replenish our electrolytes? Was Gatorade healthier when first invented or now? Which type of Gatorade has more sugar? How hard is it to create electrolytes? Is it best for your body to drink a Gatorade before a game, during a game, or after a game? Does your body consume too many electrolytes if you drink it when you're not active? Is that bad for you?
You could do these investigations by going into a deep study of electrolytes or by doing experiments. The investigation I am doing is an experimental project. I am going to test the Gatorades and then compare them to find out which one has more electrolytes. I am also going to do some research so that I can understand what electrolytes are, because how can I know the importance of having more electrolytes if I don’t know what they are, and why I need them.
What is the history of Gatorade? Was it first started as a sports drink? How did it get its name? I think if my topic is different types of Gatorades, I need to understand how it came about first, and I need to know the background of it.
In the summer of 1965, the assistant coach of the University of Florida football team came to a few scientists at the university to figure out why his football players were so affected by the heat, (during this time period it was normal for athletes to go into the hospital over heat illness and up to 25 football players died a year from heat illness). This led to those scientists inventing a drink that could replenish the players. The leader of these scientists was Dr. James Robert Cade, and his team was made up of Dr. James Free, Dr. Dana Shires, and Dr. Alex De. Quesada. The first time the boys drank it wasn’t until a game on October 2nd, when they were playing LSU. It was 102 outside, and LSU couldn’t hold up to the heat, and the Gators ended up winning the game, but this wasn’t the end of their success. The next season, the Gators went 8-2.
At first, Gatorade didn’t taste very good; it tasted so bad that boys wouldn’t drink it. It tasted so bad that boys would throw it up. One day, Dr. Cade's wife suggested adding lemon juice, which changed the taste, and it was no longer gross. Gatorade started as one team's sports drink, and became one of the most sold sports drinks in the world.
My experiment is to test this sports drink. I'm not trying to see how bad it is for you, or how good it is for you, either. I am here to find out and prove which type of Gatorade has the best electrolytes for you, and I am going to do this through testing different types. I know as an athlete, this is very beneficial for me to know, and I want to be able to provide information that is beneficial for others, too. This experiment might just change the way you shop forever. I will learn which drink is the best to rehydrate you.
What electrolytes do for your body is they balance fluid inside and outside your cells, they regulate chemical reactions, they keep you hydrated, and they are how you keep your muscles contracted. They do all of these through electrical charges. You lose these electrolytes when you sweat. This is why teams get affected by heat and work out; this is why they need something that can give more electrolytes during games and work outs, but the question is which type of Gatorade has the most electrolytes to refill you, which one could energize you best?
Different investigations you could go off of this topic are: Why, when we sweat, do we lose electrolytes? What happens if we work out and never replenish our electrolytes? Was Gatorade healthier when first invented or now? Which type of Gatorade has more sugar? How hard is it to create electrolytes? Is it best for your body to drink a Gatorade before a game, during a game, or after a game? Does your body consume too many electrolytes if you drink it when you're not active? Is that bad for you?
You could do these investigations by going into a deep study of electrolytes or by doing experiments. The investigation I am doing is an experimental project. I am going to test the Gatorades and then compare them to find out which one has more electrolytes. I am also going to do some research so that I can understand what electrolytes are, because how can I know the importance of having more electrolytes if I don’t know what they are, and why I need them.
What is the history of Gatorade? Was it first started as a sports drink? How did it get its name? I think if my topic is different types of Gatorades, I need to understand how it came about first, and I need to know the background of it.
In the summer of 1965, the assistant coach of the University of Florida football team came to a few scientists at the university to figure out why his football players were so affected by the heat, (during this time period it was normal for athletes to go into the hospital over heat illness and up to 25 football players died a year from heat illness). This led to those scientists inventing a drink that could replenish the players. The leader of these scientists was Dr. James Robert Cade, and his team was made up of Dr. James Free, Dr. Dana Shires, and Dr. Alex De. Quesada. The first time the boys drank it wasn’t until a game on October 2nd, when they were playing LSU. It was 102 outside, and LSU couldn’t hold up to the heat, and the Gators ended up winning the game, but this wasn’t the end of their success. The next season, the Gators went 8-2.
At first, Gatorade didn’t taste very good; it tasted so bad that boys wouldn’t drink it. It tasted so bad that boys would throw it up. One day, Dr. Cade's wife suggested adding lemon juice, which changed the taste, and it was no longer gross. Gatorade started as one team's sports drink, and became one of the most sold sports drinks in the world.
My experiment is to test this sports drink. I'm not trying to see how bad it is for you, or how good it is for you, either. I am here to find out and prove which type of Gatorade has the best electrolytes for you, and I am going to do this through testing different types. I know as an athlete, this is very beneficial for me to know, and I want to be able to provide information that is beneficial for others, too. This experiment might just change the way you shop forever. I will learn which drink is the best to rehydrate you.
Investigation Paper
My topic is testing electrolytes in different Gatorades. My hypothesis for this experiment is that different types of Gatorade have different amounts of electrolytes, even though they are created by the same brand and both include water. There are two different constants but we will focus on one, the two different constants are water, and the brand Gatorade. Each of these drinks include water and will include the same amount of it. My variable for my experiment is the different types of Gatorade, from the powder to the original mix, to normal dark and light colored Gatorades, and finally to Gatorlyte.
Before we can start our project, we will need to buy the Electrolyte Challenge Sensor Kit ( if you don’t want to buy this kit you will need to buy a school of uninsulated copper wire, a multimeter, 9-volt battery, two multimeter probes, 9-volt battery snap connecter, and three alligator clips). Next, we need to buy 3 Glacier Freeze Gatorlytes, 3 Fruit Punch Thirst Guencher Gatorade ( regular Gatorade, Fruit Punch flavor), 3 Gatorade Frost Thirst Quencher Glacier Freeze Gatorade ( regular Gatorade, Glacier Freeze flavor), and then Gatorade Frost Thirst Quencher Powder Glacier Freeze, and 3 Gatorade Frost Thirst Quencher Glacier Freeze Gatorade Sugar free ( sugar free Gatorade, Glacier Freeze flavor). You will also need a plastic straw, notebook, pen, distilled water, and bowls.
Our first step is to create our conductance sensor. We will do this by cutting 2 inches off of a plastic straw. After we have done this, we will cut 2 pieces a couples inches long of uninsulated copper wire. Next, we will wrap our uninsulated copper wire around the ends, about a half an inch from the end of the straw, also leaving wire coming up from it. Make sure the wire is tight, so it doesn’t move. Also, make sure the loose pieces of wire don’t touch, or it will cause a short circuit which will blow the fuse in your multimeter.
Now we will create our circuit. For this, we will need our multimeter, 9-volt battery, two multimeter probes, the conductance sensor ( this is what we just made with the straw and wire), 9-volt battery snap connector, and three alligator clips. Now that we have everything we will use, we will start creating our circuit. First step is to connect the probes to the multimeter (make sure the multimeter is off), we will connect the black probe to the port labeled COM, and next the port labeled V, the letter omega which if you don’t know what that looks like it looks like a horse shoe, mA, ( stands for milliaps which we will be measuring in this project). If you bought the kit, your black probe should be in the lower port, and the red one should be in the middle port which is right above the lower port.
Now take the battery and put on the 9-volt battery snap connector. After we have done this we take an alligator clip, and connect it to the red wire ( of the battery connector) on one side of the alligator clip and the other side connects to the red/positive lead/ probe of our multimeter, (Make sure alligator clips exposed metal tips never touch each other) . If you want to help keep stuff organized you can use twist ties to keep the cords buddled up. Now we will connect an alligator clip to the black multimeter probe, and the other side of the alligator clip to one wire of the conductance sensor. Next, we will connect an alligator clip to the other wire of the conductance sensor, and then connect the other side of the alligator clip to the black battery wire ( the battery connector wire). Reminders do not like the conductance sensor wires, or the exposed metal tips of alligator clips touching each other. If so, you will blow a fuse, you can replace this if this happens.
Now we have a few simple last steps before we get to test the liquids. The last couple steps are to change the dial on the multimeter to the 200 milliamp range; it should say 200m on the right side of the multimeter, and turn it on. It should read 0 since it hasn’t been merged.
Before we do our testing we have to go over some things. Make sure to emerge the same amount of wire every time because it will change your readings if you do different amounts. Also don’t hold it in the liquid too long, cause it can make bobble formation or oxidation on the wires, if you notice too much discolor or oxidation, you can create a new conductance sensor, and start over. Clean in between tests with distilled water, and dry. We also will test all the drinks three times.
Now let’s start our experiment: get a couple bowls out and we will wash them with distilled water and reuse them. Also, use a bowl filled with distilled water to wash your conductance sensor in between each drink and then dry it. After every time you test through all of the drinks, dump it out and put new distilled water in. We will test each drink, write down the number, then wash with distilled water the conductance sensor, the measuring cup, the bowl, and then dry them and do it again. Once we get done testing each drink three times we will take the average of those drinks and compare it to the average of the others to see which one has more electrolytes. We will also measure purified water to see how much electrolytes it has, to do this you have to change it to 2000 upside down h which is the measurement of microamp, we change it to this because it doesn’t have a high amount of electrolytes. Whichever Gatorade has more milliamps means it has more electrolytes.
Before we can start our project, we will need to buy the Electrolyte Challenge Sensor Kit ( if you don’t want to buy this kit you will need to buy a school of uninsulated copper wire, a multimeter, 9-volt battery, two multimeter probes, 9-volt battery snap connecter, and three alligator clips). Next, we need to buy 3 Glacier Freeze Gatorlytes, 3 Fruit Punch Thirst Guencher Gatorade ( regular Gatorade, Fruit Punch flavor), 3 Gatorade Frost Thirst Quencher Glacier Freeze Gatorade ( regular Gatorade, Glacier Freeze flavor), and then Gatorade Frost Thirst Quencher Powder Glacier Freeze, and 3 Gatorade Frost Thirst Quencher Glacier Freeze Gatorade Sugar free ( sugar free Gatorade, Glacier Freeze flavor). You will also need a plastic straw, notebook, pen, distilled water, and bowls.
Our first step is to create our conductance sensor. We will do this by cutting 2 inches off of a plastic straw. After we have done this, we will cut 2 pieces a couples inches long of uninsulated copper wire. Next, we will wrap our uninsulated copper wire around the ends, about a half an inch from the end of the straw, also leaving wire coming up from it. Make sure the wire is tight, so it doesn’t move. Also, make sure the loose pieces of wire don’t touch, or it will cause a short circuit which will blow the fuse in your multimeter.
Now we will create our circuit. For this, we will need our multimeter, 9-volt battery, two multimeter probes, the conductance sensor ( this is what we just made with the straw and wire), 9-volt battery snap connector, and three alligator clips. Now that we have everything we will use, we will start creating our circuit. First step is to connect the probes to the multimeter (make sure the multimeter is off), we will connect the black probe to the port labeled COM, and next the port labeled V, the letter omega which if you don’t know what that looks like it looks like a horse shoe, mA, ( stands for milliaps which we will be measuring in this project). If you bought the kit, your black probe should be in the lower port, and the red one should be in the middle port which is right above the lower port.
Now take the battery and put on the 9-volt battery snap connector. After we have done this we take an alligator clip, and connect it to the red wire ( of the battery connector) on one side of the alligator clip and the other side connects to the red/positive lead/ probe of our multimeter, (Make sure alligator clips exposed metal tips never touch each other) . If you want to help keep stuff organized you can use twist ties to keep the cords buddled up. Now we will connect an alligator clip to the black multimeter probe, and the other side of the alligator clip to one wire of the conductance sensor. Next, we will connect an alligator clip to the other wire of the conductance sensor, and then connect the other side of the alligator clip to the black battery wire ( the battery connector wire). Reminders do not like the conductance sensor wires, or the exposed metal tips of alligator clips touching each other. If so, you will blow a fuse, you can replace this if this happens.
Now we have a few simple last steps before we get to test the liquids. The last couple steps are to change the dial on the multimeter to the 200 milliamp range; it should say 200m on the right side of the multimeter, and turn it on. It should read 0 since it hasn’t been merged.
Before we do our testing we have to go over some things. Make sure to emerge the same amount of wire every time because it will change your readings if you do different amounts. Also don’t hold it in the liquid too long, cause it can make bobble formation or oxidation on the wires, if you notice too much discolor or oxidation, you can create a new conductance sensor, and start over. Clean in between tests with distilled water, and dry. We also will test all the drinks three times.
Now let’s start our experiment: get a couple bowls out and we will wash them with distilled water and reuse them. Also, use a bowl filled with distilled water to wash your conductance sensor in between each drink and then dry it. After every time you test through all of the drinks, dump it out and put new distilled water in. We will test each drink, write down the number, then wash with distilled water the conductance sensor, the measuring cup, the bowl, and then dry them and do it again. Once we get done testing each drink three times we will take the average of those drinks and compare it to the average of the others to see which one has more electrolytes. We will also measure purified water to see how much electrolytes it has, to do this you have to change it to 2000 upside down h which is the measurement of microamp, we change it to this because it doesn’t have a high amount of electrolytes. Whichever Gatorade has more milliamps means it has more electrolytes.
Conclusion
My goal was to find out which Gatorade would be best to replenish my electrolytes after I play a sport and lose them. I did this by conducting a test in which I tested the electrolytes in different types of Gatorade. I wanted to learn if I should rehydrate with Glacier Freeze Thirst Quencher, Glacier Freeze Gatorlyte, Glacier Freeze Zero, Glacier Freeze Powder, or Fruit Punch Thirst Quencher.
The second time I tested the drinks, the number really varied from the first time. This got me really interested in whether it varies if it is left open over days, because I did this. So I decided to buy a new Gatorade and see if the numbers still varied. The numbers varied; this helped me discover that not every test is the same and that each test can vary a lot.
The first drink that I tested was Glacier Freeze Thirst Quencher. This drink measured at 22.5 milliamps the first time I tested. My second time I tested it varied a lot, it was 19.6 milliaps. The last time I measured this drink, it was 20.00 milliamps, which is between both of the two other tests. The average of all three tests was 20.7 milliamps.
The second drink I tested was Glacier Freeze Gatorlyte. The first time I tested it, it measured 61.00; this test was so incredible to watch, it eroded so quickly, and made bubbles. The second time I measured it, it measured 49.4 milliamps. This was so much lower than the first test, but still way higher than the other Gatorade. The last time I tested it measured 47.6. The average of the three tests of Gatorlyte was 52.67.
My third test was Glacier Freeze Zero Sugar. My first test measured 22.6, this really surprised me, as sugar-free measured stronger than the regular Gatorade. My second test measured 22.4, which was lower but not too much lower than the first test. My third test measured 24.00. The average of Glacier Freeze Zero Sugar was 23.00 milliamps, which is higher than the average of Glacier Freeze regular.
My fourth test measured powder; we did one-third of a cup of powder and enough water that it was 12 oz. Then we did a ½ cup of that to measure. The first test measured 20.2. The second test measured 18.6, which was the lowest test result measured so far. The last test measured 18.1 milliamps. The average of all three tests was 18.97.
Last but definitely not least, I measured the electrolytes in Fruit Punch Thirst Quencher. The first test measured 21.4, which was really interesting to me, as that was less than my first test of Glacier Freeze. My second test measured at 17.00, which is the lowest test number out of them all. Lastly, the third test measured at 17.8 milliamps. The average of all the tests was 18.73, which is the lowest average of all the Gatorades.
We also measured water, so we could understand how many electrolytes it had. The first test that I did with water measured 0.51 microamps, which is a measurement smaller than milliamps. The second time I tested, it measured 0.66 microamps. Lastly, I measured one more time, and the number measured 0.72 microamps. I took the average of these three tests and got 0.63, which is not even close to the amount you get in Gatorades.
I had hypothesized that Gatorlyte would have the most electrolytes. This project has proven that belief is true; it has more than proven it, as Gatorlyte has so many more electrolytes than any other. The average of electrolytes in milliamps for Gatorlyte was 52.67; the next closest average was Glacier Freeze Zero Sugar, which was 23.00 milliamps. Gatorlyte is truly the drink for champions.
My experiment showed many things. We learned that Fruit Punch Thirst Quencher has the least amount of electrolytes, out of all the ones we tested. Second, we learned that Glacier Freeze Zero Sugar has more electrolytes than regular Glacier Freeze Thirst Quencher. Lastly, we learned that Gatorlyte has the most electrolytes.
My goal with this project was to find out which type of Gatorade has more electrolytes, to help me know which one I should drink. I am athletic, and this really matters to me, as I lose a lot of sweat in my games. This project helped me to find out which ones I should drink. I hope this will help you choose from now on which Gatorade to drink.
The second time I tested the drinks, the number really varied from the first time. This got me really interested in whether it varies if it is left open over days, because I did this. So I decided to buy a new Gatorade and see if the numbers still varied. The numbers varied; this helped me discover that not every test is the same and that each test can vary a lot.
The first drink that I tested was Glacier Freeze Thirst Quencher. This drink measured at 22.5 milliamps the first time I tested. My second time I tested it varied a lot, it was 19.6 milliaps. The last time I measured this drink, it was 20.00 milliamps, which is between both of the two other tests. The average of all three tests was 20.7 milliamps.
The second drink I tested was Glacier Freeze Gatorlyte. The first time I tested it, it measured 61.00; this test was so incredible to watch, it eroded so quickly, and made bubbles. The second time I measured it, it measured 49.4 milliamps. This was so much lower than the first test, but still way higher than the other Gatorade. The last time I tested it measured 47.6. The average of the three tests of Gatorlyte was 52.67.
My third test was Glacier Freeze Zero Sugar. My first test measured 22.6, this really surprised me, as sugar-free measured stronger than the regular Gatorade. My second test measured 22.4, which was lower but not too much lower than the first test. My third test measured 24.00. The average of Glacier Freeze Zero Sugar was 23.00 milliamps, which is higher than the average of Glacier Freeze regular.
My fourth test measured powder; we did one-third of a cup of powder and enough water that it was 12 oz. Then we did a ½ cup of that to measure. The first test measured 20.2. The second test measured 18.6, which was the lowest test result measured so far. The last test measured 18.1 milliamps. The average of all three tests was 18.97.
Last but definitely not least, I measured the electrolytes in Fruit Punch Thirst Quencher. The first test measured 21.4, which was really interesting to me, as that was less than my first test of Glacier Freeze. My second test measured at 17.00, which is the lowest test number out of them all. Lastly, the third test measured at 17.8 milliamps. The average of all the tests was 18.73, which is the lowest average of all the Gatorades.
We also measured water, so we could understand how many electrolytes it had. The first test that I did with water measured 0.51 microamps, which is a measurement smaller than milliamps. The second time I tested, it measured 0.66 microamps. Lastly, I measured one more time, and the number measured 0.72 microamps. I took the average of these three tests and got 0.63, which is not even close to the amount you get in Gatorades.
I had hypothesized that Gatorlyte would have the most electrolytes. This project has proven that belief is true; it has more than proven it, as Gatorlyte has so many more electrolytes than any other. The average of electrolytes in milliamps for Gatorlyte was 52.67; the next closest average was Glacier Freeze Zero Sugar, which was 23.00 milliamps. Gatorlyte is truly the drink for champions.
My experiment showed many things. We learned that Fruit Punch Thirst Quencher has the least amount of electrolytes, out of all the ones we tested. Second, we learned that Glacier Freeze Zero Sugar has more electrolytes than regular Glacier Freeze Thirst Quencher. Lastly, we learned that Gatorlyte has the most electrolytes.
My goal with this project was to find out which type of Gatorade has more electrolytes, to help me know which one I should drink. I am athletic, and this really matters to me, as I lose a lot of sweat in my games. This project helped me to find out which ones I should drink. I hope this will help you choose from now on which Gatorade to drink.
