Chemistry Investigatory Project

Class XII (2021-22)

India International School
Topic- Composition Of Soft Drinks
Submitted By- Annanya Mukherjee
Submitted To- Smita Ma’am
Roll No. 12305
 Index
1. Certificate
2. Acknowledgement
3. Statement Of The Problem
4. Objectives
5. Introduction
6. Problem Question
7. Methodological Survey
8. Materials Required
9. Data Gathered
10. General Observation And Result
11. Conclusion
12. Limitations
13. Bibliography
Certificate
This is to certify that Annanya Mukherjee Roll Number 12305 is appearing for AISSCE-2022 as a
regular student from India International School and has submitted Chemistry project work on the topic
“Composition Of Soft Drinks.”

Signature of Internal Examiner

Signature of External Examiner

Acknowledgement
I would like to thank my parents and my teacher, Smita Ma’am for providing me the resources and
knowledge required to carry out the experiment.
 Statement of The Problem
Soft drinks are often severely advertised and are popular among
people of all ages. New brands hire youth icons as ambassadors and
young people often buy the product without judging its composition
properly. I personally saw many of my friends have a regular intake
of such soft drinks and decided to try and find out how harmful they
are for one’s health.
 Objectives
● To determine the composition of regular soft drinks and determine whether it is
harmful to health.
● To specify risk factors if any.
● To include the previous theories stated by researchers and try and test them.
● To include any new findings through experiment.
 Introduction
The man standing on your left is very successfully diverting
your attention to this text. A very similar strategy is used by
leading companies such as Pepsico, Coca Cola and
Mountain Dew, they use a seasoned face. But behind it, they
are consciously playing with your health and well being.
During my research, I came across some astonishing figures.
Did you know It is relatively simple to manufacture soft
drinks by mixing three ingredients: water, syrup and carbon
dioxide but what these three do to your body are a lot more
horrific.
 Problem Question
Q1. Why are cold drinks severely harmful especially to diabetic people even though they
are advertised so much?

Q2. How does the composition of soft drink make it a strong detergent and cleaner?

Q3. Is it harmful to have a regular intake of soft drinks? Why??

 Previous Methodological surveys on the topic
● Soft drinks typically contain water, sweetener (8 12%, w/v), carbon dioxide (0.3 0.6% w/v),
acidulants (0.05 0.3% w/v), flavorings (0.1 0.5% w/v), colorings (0 70 ppm), chemical
preservatives (lawful limits), antioxidants (<100 ppm), and/or foaming agents (e.g., saponins
up to 200 mg/mL).
● According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) , most people
consume too many added sugars, which can lead to health problems.
● A 75-ml can of “Sprite” packs 140 calories and 38 grams of carbs, all of which
come from added sugar.
 Previous Methodological surveys on the topic
● According to Wikipedia, soda consumption has increased in some low or middle
income countries such as Cameroon, Georgia, India, and Vietnam as soda
manufacturers increasingly target these markets and consumers have increasing
discretionary income
● A 2006 study of several thousand men and women, found that women who regularly
drank cola-based sodas (three or more a day) had significantly lower bone mineral
density (BMD) of about 4% in the hip compared to women who did not consume
colas
 Materials Required
● Test Tube
● Test Tube Holder
● Test Tube Stand
● Stop Watch
● Beaker
● Burner
● pH Paper
● Tripod Stand
● China Dish
● Wire Gauge
● Water Bath
 Chemicals Required
1. Potassium Solution
2. Iodine Solution
3. Fehling's A and B solution
4. Lime water
5. Concentrated HNO3
6. Benedict Solution
 Data Gathered

Table taken from research paper published in

a thesis paper*
 Data Gathered
● Non-diet cold drinks and fruit juices are very rich in carbohydrates and generally poor in minerals.
(Medical Journal published in 2014).
● Large quantities of simple sugars with high caloric intake in soft drinks and malt drinks may lead to
and aggravate obesity, a known risk factor for diabetes, hypertension and other non-communicable
diseases. (Research gate, published by Adam G.)
● Cold drinks are a fast-acting source of glucose that can lead to hyperglycemia when consumed.
Hyperglycemia is the medical term for high blood sugar and can cause serious complications, such as
coma or death, if left untreated. (The Healthline)
● According to a study published in 2010, the risk of developing diabetes is 26% higher for people who
consume one or more sugary drinks every day.
*All the points stated above are serious health hazards which nonetheless go unnoticed and such
drinks are recklessly advertised and consumed. I will be conducting tests to confirm the nature and
composition of commonly available soft drinks to test whether these claims are applicable.
 Detection of pH
Experiment:
Small samples of cold drinks of different brands were taken in a test tube and put on the pH paper. The change in the
color of pH paper was noticed and was compared with the standard pH scale.

Observation :

Inference: Soft drinks are generally acidic because of the presence of citric acid and phosphoric acid. pH values
of cold drink of different brands are different due to the variation in amount of acidic contents.
 Test for carbon dioxide
Experiment:
As soon as the bottles were opened, one by one the sample was passed through lime water. The lime water turned
milky.

Observation :

Inference: All the soft drinks contain dissolved carbon dioxide in water. The carbon dioxide (CO2) dissolves in
water to form carbonic acid, which is responsible for its tangy taste.

Chemical Reactions Involved: Ca(OH)2(s) + CO2(g) ----------- CaCO3(s) + H2O(s)

 Test for Glucose
Experiment: Glucose is a reducing sugar acid. Its presence is detected by Benedict’s Test.

Benedict’s Reagent Test: Small samples of cold drinks of different brands were taken in a test tube and a
few drops of Benedict’s reagent were added. The test tube was heated for few seconds. Formation of reddish color
confirmed the presence of glucose in cold drinks.

Observation :

Inference: All the samples gave positive test for glucose with Benedict’s reagent. Hence all the drinks contain
glucose.
 Fehling’s Solution Test
Experiment: Small samples of cold drinks of different brands were taken in a test tube and a few drops of
Fehling’s A solution and Fehling’s B solution were added in equal amount. The test tube was heated in a water bath
for 10 minutes. Appearance of brown precipitate confirmed the presence of glucose in cold drinks.

Observation:

Inference: All the samples gave positive test for glucose with Fehling’s (A & B) solutions. Hence all the cold
drinks contain glucose.
 Test for Alcohol
Experiment: Small samples of each brand of cold drinks were taken in separate test tubes and Iodine followed by Potassium Iodide
and Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) solution was added to each test tube. Then the test tubes were heated in hot water bath for 30 minutes.
Appearance of yellow colored precipitate confirmed the presence of alcohol in cold drinks.

Observation

Inference: All the cold drinks samples gave positive test for alcohol. Hence all the cold drinks contain glucose.
Chemical Reactions: CH3CH2OH + 4I2+ 6NaOH ------ CHI3 + HCOONa + 5NaI + 5H2O
 Test for sucrose
EXPERIMENT : 5 ml samples of each brand of cold drinks were taken in separate china dishes and were
heated very strongly until changes occur. Black colored residue left confirmed the presence of sucrose in cold drinks.

Observation :
 General Observation
The following is a picture of the nutritional value

given on a popular cold drink bottle. It states that

it contains caffeine, sugar and carbohydrates

other than that, there are no added minerals,

vitamins, or fruit essence.

From the experiments stated previously, I could confirm the presence of sucrose, glucose,
alcohol and the acidic medium of soft drinks.
 Result
After conducting several tests, it was concluded that the different brands
of cold drinks namely:
1. Coca Cola
2. Sprite
3. Limca
4. Fanta
All contain glucose, alcohol, sucrose, phosphate and carbon dioxide. All cold drinks are acidic in nature. On
comparing the pH value of different brands Coca Cola is the most acidic and Limca is least acidic of all the
four brands taken.
 Result

● Among the four samples of cold drinks taken, Sprite has the maximum amount of
dissolved carbon dioxide and Fanta has the minimum amount of dissolved carbon
dioxide.
● Soft drinks are little more harmful than sugar solution. As they contain sugar in large
amount which cause problems in diabetes patients.
● Soft drinks contain “phosphoric acid” which has a pH of 2.8. So they can dissolve a
nail in about 4 days.
● Drinking too many soft drinks means that the body stores excess energy in the form
of fat (as they contain sucrose and glucose), so, drinking too much soda can play a
part in the development of overweight
 Conclusion
Even though soft drinks are endorsed a lot more than desirable, they are proven to give rise to hypertension,
diabetes, obesity, and inactiveness. The phosphoric acid used in it is highly corrosive to teeth. It’s intake does
not lower the hunger hormone ghrelin as it contains sucrose and glucose which fail to give the feeling of being
fullness and one tends to eat more than required. The human liver easily accumulates sucrose and turns it into
fat, giving rise to fatty liver disease. On drinking excessive soft drinks, cells may become less sensitive or
resistant to the effects of insulin.When this happens, our pancreas must make even more insulin to remove the
glucose from your bloodstream — so insulin levels in your blood spike.This condition is known as insulin
resistance. .Insulin resistance is arguably the main driver behind metabolic syndrome — a stepping stone towards
diabetes and heart disease.

Thus, soft drinks can act as good cleaners and detergents but are a hazard to human health.
 Limitations of the Study
● The integral harms of soft drinks could not be presented practically by me as they are all related to the
extensive functioning of the human body and hence very advanced.
● The experiments were done only on a limited range of products due to limited resources.
 Bibliography
The Healthline

Researchgate- Papers by Prof Adam Groffman

Wikipedia

Medical Journal from 2014

Fiscal Survey done by Pepsico.