iron extraction experiments

Experiment No. 1: Find drinkable iron in juice

What you need:

1-pint glass jar

3 tea bags

Pineapple juice

Apple juice

White grape juice

Cranberry juice

4 clear cups (glass or plastic)

Tablespoon

Step (1) Make a strong tea solution in the 1-pint glass jar. Allow the jar to stand for 1 hr.

Step (2) Pour 4 tbsp of each juice sample into a different cup. Make sure you label each cup so you know which sample you are observing.

Step (3) Add 4 tbsp of tea to each cup and stir. Allow the solutions to sit undisturbed for 20 minutes.

Step (4) After 20 minutes carefully lift each cup looking up through the bottom.  You should be able to see dark particles (solute) settling on the bottom of the cup.

Step (5) Allow the solutions to sit for 2 more hours and recheck the bottom of the cups for more iron solute.

[After 20 minutes will you see the small dark particles of iron in the pineapple juice. After 2 hrs it will be visible in the white grape and the cranberry.  But no particles will form in apple juice.] 

 Experiment No. 2: Extract the element iron from a breakfast cereal.  

What you need:

2 cups of a breakfast cereal with iron

a large bowl

enough water to cover the cereal

wooden spoon

at least 2 strong magnets

hand lens

Step (1) Place 2 cups of cereal in a big bowl adding just enough water to cover it completely.  Let sit until the cereal is mushy.

Step (2) Stir for 5 minutes. 

Step (3) Add your strong magnet stir for 3 minutes then let it rest with the magnet in the slurry for 10 minutes. 

Step (4) After 10 minutes carefully remove magnets to a clean plate pouring as little water as possible to remove extra slurry.  Make sure not to rub the magnets or you will lose the iron sample.

Step (5) Examine the magnets for 'fuzzy' looking slivers of iron.