Red Bull is an acidic drink (mainly carbonic acid from the carbonated soda water), and the acid

will attach
to one end of the casein (milk protein) in milk forming a salt (a bicarbonate or a carbonate). This alters the
tertiary structure of the casein causing it to drop out of suspension (milk is an emulsion) and agglomerate
into the curdled mass you see floating on top. This happens with most carbonated drinks and fruit juices
mixed with milk.
INGREDIENTS
Whole Milk
Red Bull
INSTRUCTIONS
STEP 1: Mix one cup of whole milk with one cup of Red Bull.
STEP 2: Wait five minutes and observe.
EXPLANATION
Casein is a protein that is found in milk. Groups of casein normally float around in milk without bonding. These
groupings have a negative charge, which makes them repel other groupings of casein and keeps the casein evenly
dispersed in the milk. The acid in the Red Bull causes the negative charges on the casein groupings to become
neutralized. Instead of pushing each other apart, the casein starts to clump together causing the milk to curdle. Go
to www.hookedonscience.org for more experiments that might get you and your family Hooked on Science.

In our experiment, we decided to mix different type of milks with the energy drink red bull and see the reaction
between them. This experiment is conducted to determine what component of milk causes the Red bull and milk to
react the way it does when mixed.
As we can see from the results obtained, the reaction between the fat-free milk and Red bull formed the largest
chunky white soft-textured mixture on top to the proportion of 3:1 to the yellow solution at bottom. Whereas, there was
no layer formed when the Red bull is mixed with the heavy whipping cream which has 8% fat in it. Even after stirred,
the mixture remained white in color.

Initially, Red bull is an acidic drink which contains carbonic acid in it. Whereas, milk contains protein named casein in
it. Approximately, 82% of milk protein is casein. Normally, caseins float as they repel other casein proteins. These
separated and floating casein proteins cause milk to have a liquid consistency. When it has mixed with the highly
acidic drink, Red bull the acid from it will attach to one end of the casein molecule forming a salt which is bicarbonate.
The salt alters the tertiary structure of the casein causing it to drop out of suspension and combine into the curdled
scum that floats on top. The negative charge of casein becomes neutral once it clumps together. This is what causes
the milk to become chunky and thicker when mixed with Red bull.

There were few errors occurred when carrying out the experiment. Like, the amount of each type of milk and Red bull
used werent perfectly measured which could have contributed to different reactions from different amounts of drinks
used. The reactions could possibly have been different if the liquids were measured accurately.

There are some precaution steps should have been considered during the experiment. One of it is to use stopwatch to
record the time taken for each of the type of milks to react with the Red bull to observe and identify the fastest
reaction taken place in the experiment. Besides, preservative colors sh006Fuld have been mixed to the Red bull to
see the reaction between the Red bull and the milks more obvious since the color of Red bull is light yellow initially.
This might have given a clear vision of proportion between the clump formed at the top and liquid remained at the
bottom.