THE DIARY GAME: SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION(FOOD TEST) By @felixreece

Hello my fellow steemians, Today on my daily diary I will be sharing with us how my day went with my students in Grange school, Ikeja, Lagos state.

Meanwhile, I was employed by the school as a Biology Laboratory technician to see to the affairs pertaining to practicals in biology from year 7 to year 11 and it has been awesome role though challenging sometimes.

EARLIER TODAY.

It’s 5:40am in the morning as I’m being woke up by my alarm, I said my morning prayers. As a fitness enthusiast, I had my push ups, jog around the room and squat for some minutes. It is 6:10am already.

Before then, I had my bathing water on fire. I hardly bath with cold water in the morning. I took my bath and prepare for work. In preparation to the class I had this morning, I got the necessary food items required for the practical over the night which include; egg, milk, bread, oil, and sugar.

Good to go, i took my practical items, school bag, wore my body spray and off to work I go.

THINGS THAT I DID WHEN I GOT TO SCHOOL

I got to school at about 15 minutes past 7am. Meanwhile, classes start at 8:00am and before the class start, the students are meant to be in their Form Rooms for registration (Attendance) as I’m a form tutor of year Year 9E.

The Registration starts at 7:45am and ends at 7:55am. We had our morning prayers and roll call was made before they left for their classes.

After the registration, I went to the laboratory to prepare for the practical which is scheduled to start by 9:00am. I got the apparatus, reagents and food samples ready.

PRACTICAL TIME

The class I took today on the practical is year 8D which commenced at 9:05am. The practical is based on FOOD TEST that is investigating the class of food a food sample belong to.

##INTRODUCTION

Food Test can be expressed as a method by which component of food can be detected. Below are the keys words and their meaning.

Apparatus: This is an equipment used to carry out an experiment. Examples of equipment used include; boiling tube, boiling tube rack, heating mantle, beakers, dropper, white tiles, hand glove, Google.

Reagent: This is a compound or mixture of compound used to test samples or other compounds in the laboratory. Examples of reagents used in this context include; Benedict solution, iodine, ethanol, biuret solution.

Specimen: This is the food samples used for the experiment. Below are the food samples.

1. Egg Albumen
2. Milk solution ( mixed with water in a beaker)
3. Oil
4. Bread
5. Sugar solution ( mixed with water in a beaker)

OBJECTIVES OF THE PRACTICAL

1. To identify the reagents used
2. To the know which reagents is used for a particular food test.
3. To identify which class of food is present.
4. To note the procedures taken to achieve such results.

The food samples are placed in a boiling tube labeled A, B,C,D, the white ties has the bread. The food test carry out was a direct test meaning the specific reagent for a particular test is used on the sample without using it on the other samples.

Boiling Tube A = Egg albumen
Boiling Tube B = Milk solution
Boiling Tube C = Oil
Boiling Tube D = Sugar Solution
White Tiles has the Bread.

**TEST FOR PROTEIN **

I. Take boiling tube A which has the Egg albumen.
II. Add 3-5 drops of Biuret reagent( blue in color) to the boiling tube A.
III. Shake well and allow the mixtures to stand for 5 minutes.
IV. Observe for any color change.

RESULT

Observation	Interpretation
No color change i.e solution remains blue	Proteins are absent(negative)
The solution turns from blue to deep purple	Proteins are present(positive)

N/B: Biuret reagent is blue in color and it’s used to test for protein. Biuret solution is a mixture of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and copper sulphate Cu(SO4).

Repeat the above procedure for Boiling Tube B and record your observation.

TEST FOR STARCH

• Add 2-4 drops of iodine solution on the bread using the dropper
• Allow for 3 minutes and observe color change

Observation	Interpretation
No color change i.e the Sample remain brown	Starch is not present
The food sample changes to dark brown or black from brown	Starch is present

TEST FOR FAT AND OIL

• Add few drops of Ethanol in the boiling tube labeled C
• Shake properly
• Add 2-3ml of water and shake
• Allow for some minutes and observe for a change

RESULT

If an emulsion is form, fat or oil is present. If there is a clear solution, fat or oil is not present.

TEST FOR SUGAR

1. Add 3-5 drops of Benedict solution to boiling tube D
2. Shake and place in the hot water that’s on the heating mantle.
3. Allow for 5 minutes
4. Observe the color change

Observation	Interpretation
No color change i.e the color remains blue	Sugar is absent
The color of the solution changes from blue to green	sugar is present ( small amount)
The color of the solution changes from blue to orange	sugar is present ( medium amount)
The color of the solution changes from blue to brick red	Sugar is present ( large amount)

N/B: Benedict solution is used to test for sugar. It’s blue in color.

AT THE END OF THE PRACTICAL

At the end of the practical, the students were able to define the terms used, the procedures followed and what each of the reagents used stands for.

The observation and interpretation of the practical was detailed in tabular form. At the end of the practical, they all went for their next class. I cleaned up the laboratory and kept the apparatus and reagents t the appropriate place.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, it was a lovely day with the students. Letting them know what food test is all about was a joy and their faces was filled with joy.