Test for Iron in Fruit Juices

We know that iron is essential to a healthy body, but we can’t go out and eat a chunk of iron! This vital mineral comes to us broken down in artificially iron enriched foods or naturally in foods like red meats and vegetables. This experiment will actually let your child to test for iron in some fruit juices. Before you begin, develop a hypothesis (a guess), of which fruit juice may include iron and which doesn’t. See if you are right - why did or didn't you make a correct hypothesis?

What You Need:

• 1 pint glass jar
• 3 tea bags
• Warm tap water
• 4 tablespoons of pineapple juice
• 4 tablespoons of apple juice
• 4 tablespoons of white grape juice
• 4 tablespoons of cranberry juice
• 5 clear glasses
• Measuring spoons
• Spoon

What You Do:

1. Make a strong tea solution by filling the pint jar with warm tap water and steeping the tea bags for about 1 hour.
2. Pour each juice sample into a separate glass making sure that you wash the measuring spoon between each juice so you don’t mix any of the juices.
3. Add 4 tablespoons of tea to each glass.  The fifth glass will just have tea in it.  Stir each glass but make sure you wash the spoon after each glass so you don’t mix the juice mixtures.
4. Let these stand for 20 minutes.
5. Gently lift the glass up and look through the bottom.  Notice any dark particles floating on the bottom?  Make a note of them.
6. Let the glasses sit for 2 hours.  Check for particles on the bottoms of the glasses. 

Iron in the juice combines with chemicals in the tea to form the dark particles.  The dark particles are actually iron that has separated from the liquid solution.  More particles form fastest in the pineapple juice because it contains more iron.  No particles formed in the apple juice because it doesn’t contain iron.