Energy Drink Lab Report Essay Example for Free

Energy Drink Lab Report Essay As a result of conducting various qualitative chemical analysis tests, Monster Energy  ® was found to contain a large amount of reducing sugars and NaCl. It was found to be void of proteins and lipids. Further, Canada Dry  ® gingerale was found to contain a large amount of reducing sugars, while being void of protein, lipids and NaCl. The components of the Monster Energy drink tested were quite congruent to the components found in the other energy drinks. The exceptions, however, were that SugarFree Rockstar, like the name suggests, contains no traces of sugar, unlike Monster Energy. Also, unlike other energy drinks, Monster Energy contained detectable traces of sodium chloride. The components of gingerale were also quite similar to the components found in other beverages. However, it contained no protein or lipids, unlike chocolate milk, and had a large amount of simple sugars, unlike Vitamin Water and Tea. In short, the chemical assays do not fully support the marketing claims made by the energy drink producers. They show that none of the energy drinks tested contain proteins, which build, maintain and help replace tissues in the body. Also, all energy drinks (with the exception of Sugar Free Rockstar) showed that these drinks contain large amounts of simple (reducing) sugars. None of the energy drinks contain fats, which actually provide the body with 2x the amount of energy per gram than carbohydrates and proteins. Finally, Monster Energy was the only drink that contained NaCl. Through research, it was found that NaCl maintains the â€Å"sodium-potassium pump† in the body. This important mechanism consists of the sodium ion (an electrolyte) going into cells and potassium coming out, which then releases energy. These conclusions go to show that, while the energy drink â€Å"producers† claim to offer a product rich in energy-inducing ingredients, they have not, by any mea ns, included a fuller scope of  nutrients that would truly have the potential to bring energy. Whereas their claims range from â€Å"being the meanest energy supplement on the planet† to â€Å"increasing endurance, concentration and reaction speed,† really, sugar is the only thing that appears consistently in detectable amounts, being a source of very temporary, short-term energy. It could be helpful to have tested to for amino acids see whether there was a detectable quantity of amino acids in the energy drinks. Amino acids being the components of proteins, it is inferred that they are more easily absorbed that proteins. Perhaps knowing whether there was a detectable quantity of amino acids could also contribute to the idea of the effectiveness/ ineffectiveness of the energy drinks. A possible test that could be done here is the â€Å"Ninhydrin Test.† Ninhydrin detects ammonia and the amine groups in amino acids. So, in the presence of â€Å"free† amino acids, Ninhydrin would turn purple. Conclusion and Evaluation Given what I’ve learned in this lab, I believe that I would not ever purchase the energy drinks available on the market. Surely, they are advertised as being infused with exotic herbal extracts, powerful vitamins, and the like; however, today’s lab showed that the only ingredient the energy drinks provide in abundance is sugar. For the price it costs to purchase a drink scarcely containing energy-providing substances (ex. proteins, lipids, etc.) other than sugar, I believe it is economically â€Å"not worth it†. Besides, drinking such great quantities of extra sugar is quite counter-productive and likely to cause weight gain in itself. I cannot consider energy drinks a â€Å"natural alternative† to either sports drinks (like Gatorade) or energy-providing foods, and will thus stay away from these blatantly consumed â€Å"energy† drinks. Sources of Error, Suggestions for Improvement This qualitative chemical analysis of energy drinks lab was well conducted. Many variables were kept constant (such as the volume of energy drink being tested each time, the room temperature, and the time waited before recording final observations, etc.). This helped in eliminating sources of both random  and systematic error. To improve this lab, perhaps a spot-plate or even a petri dish could be used in doing the Biuret Test, the Benedict’s Test and the Silver Nitrate Test. With the energy drink sample being tested in these apparatuses, a greater surface area of the sample would be exposed to the â€Å"testing solution†- as opposed to the narrow test tube. It is known that an increase in surface area increases the rate of reaction; thus using spot-plates would ensure a greater reaction â€Å"completion† by the time final observations are recorded (Note: the waiting time for recording observations is kept constant: 2 minutes). Results would be more obvious, in terms of physical appearance, and can be assumed to be more accurate when using both the smaller volume of energy drink and a spot plate to contain it.

Why Is Desalination Becoming So Important?

Why Is Desalination Becoming So Important? Desalination is a technology which includes several processes that remove salt and other minerals from seawater to produce freshwater. In recent decades, this technology developed rapidly and becoming more and more popular around the world. This essay will focus on the effects of using desalination. It begins with the reason why this technology develop rapidly in the recent years. After that, some economic and environmental benefits and drawbacks of desalination will be analysed. Finally, give a conclusion. Water is a basic and crucial resource for survival and growth of life. We can not live without water. However, there is a research by Fiorenza (2002) shows that nearly one fourth of mankind is suffering from inadequate fresh water supply, both of quality and quantity. Considering water shortage concerns about 80 countries and has caused some serious results in many places, the water shortage phenomenon is becoming a serious global problem that affects peoples daily life and hindered the social development. Because of the increasing number of global population and expansion of both industrial and agricultural activities, the water requirement will increasing rapidly in a very near future. It is obviously that the traditional fresh water supply system can not meet the requirement any more. An alternative water supply option is need to help us deal with this problem. Water is so important for human beings, therefore, we have already developed many kinds of water supply systems. But all of them have a common problem and also the fatal problem is that they all need natural fresh water resources. The research by Khawaji (2007) illustrates that nearly 97% of the earthà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s water is seawater while another 2% is fresh water but locked in icecaps and glaciers. The available fresh water just accounts for about 0.5% of the earthà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s total water supply. Another point should be considered is human activities have polluted a large amount of fresh water resource. It means that all the traditional water supply systems just can use much less than 0.5% water resource. It is obvious that we can not just rely on these traditional water supply systems any more. Comparing with these traditional options, the desalination technology does not need natural fresh water resources, desalination equipment can prod uce fresh water from seawater. This technology give human beings an opportunity that we can use the majority of earthà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s water resource. This is really a revolutionary change that we need not rely on natural fresh water resources any more. Because of this unique advantage, desalination has developed rapidly in recent decades and playing an important role in many countries now. For example, according to research by Zhou (2003), in Saudi Arabia the desalination equipment produces more than 6,000,000 m3 of freshwater per day. This technology has become a reliable fresh water source for human beings. In fourth century BC, Aristotle found that when saltwater turns into vapor, salt and freshwater will separated. This was the first desalination theory and it has already been discoverd more than 2000 years. The previous analysis shows that desalination has a lot of advantages, but it can be questioned just used in recent years. It is because the former desalination technology cost too much and was not reliable enough. This is also the main reason why there are many critics against the use of desalination. However, the desalination technology has advanced a lot in the last 30 years, especially, the invention of multi-stage flash process and reverse osmosis. According to the research by Tsiourtis (2001) shows that 86% desalination factory use these two desalination processes now. In addition, these two methods are the most commercially important desalination technologies. Furthermore technological advances were made on the multi-stage flash (MSF) process (materials and process) and on reverse osmosis (RO), with improvement on the membranes and the energy recovery equipment. (qtd. Tsiourtis, 2001) So these technological advances in the last 30 years have driven down the cost of desalinated water very much. The figure 1 illustrats that the price of desalination shows a decreasing trend from 1988 to 2000. The total cost of desalination decreased from1.7$/m3 in 1998 to 0.7$/m3 in 2000. It is an acceptable price for many countries now and due to the decreasing trend, it can be predicted that the desalination will more cheaper in the future. The decreasing cost trend is just one economic benefit of desalination. Another reason is in some situations, desalination is a cheaper water supply option. For example, Chinas water resources are uneven distributed and many places in northern China are facing the water shortage problem. So, the government decides to build a long pipeline to transfer water from the Yangtze River to area in northern China. Research by Liu and Zheng (2002) shows the main canal would be 1150 km long. From the research by Kally (1993) we already find that the cost of transport is around 0.061$/m3 per 100 km. Therefore, it means that the cost of transferring water will more than 0.07$/m3. It is higher than using desalination, additionally, because of the desalination cost has fallen from 1.7$/m3 to 0.7 $/m3 and still keep an decreasing trend. There is no reason to believe that the trend will not continue in the future. So desalination also has its economic benefits in some situations. Desalination not only has economic benefits, but also has many environmental advantages. Firstly, compares with the water transport, desalination does not need so much pipeline and pumping stations. It means that less land will be occupied and less energy will be wasted in the transferring process. After that, because these traditional water supply options need fresh water supply, the overuse of surface water and groundwater has caused many serious consequences. For instance, the ground surface settlement happened in many places in China just because of the abuse of groundwater. Research by Chai et al. (2004) shows that due to the abuse of groundwater, surface surveys of land subsidence is 2 to 3 meters in the central area of Shanghai. Ground surface settlement is harmful to a buildings foundation and will cause dangerous results. However, desalinations resource is seawater, it will never limited and never will have these troubles. So, compare with some traditional water supply optio ns, the desalination system also has some of its own environmental benefits. From the above analysis we find that a desalination system has its own advantages no matter in economic and environmental aspects. But it is undeniable that this technology still has some drawbacks in both aspects. Firstly, the desalination process has a by-product called brine, What is a kind of water that contents double salt of seawater and also contains membrane cleaning chemicals and other chemicals used for scale and corrosion control(qtd .Tsiourtis, 2001). If we can not treat the brine well, it will cause serious pollution. Then there are some chemicals will be used in the desalination process. It also will cause some pollution. After that, noise pollution is another problem, the noise produced by these machines will trouble people. Furthermore, comparing with other water supply options, desalination still a little expensive than these traditional ones in normal situations, many countries can afford this technology as the option to solve their water shortage problems. Overall, desalination is already becoming a very important water supply option, especially in these energy-rich, dry and lack of freshwater resource areas, such as these Middle East countries. This technology give human beings an new option to solve water shortage problem. Although, this technology still have some problems but because of its own advantages and the trend of desalination technology development, we can believe that desalination will have a bright future. This technology will play an more important role in future. Word count: 1294

The Go-Getter :: essays research papers

The Go-Getter is a story about one man’s drive and persistence. William E. Peck is his name and he is an ex-soldier who was injured in battle. Bill lost one of his arms and had one of his legs shortened because of a gunshot wound. But the story begins as the Ricks & Logging Company is looking for a man who can take over managerial responsibilities in their Shanghai office. The two previous managers have had alcohol problems and have not lived up to their responsibilities. So the company is looking for a replacement. First off, Cappy Ricks and Mr. Skinner are set on a Mr. Andrews taking the job in Shanghai. But in walks this gimpy one-armed man into Mr. Ricks’ office and wow’s him with his powerful ability to sell himself, Bill Peck. Bill had met with several other people in the company and they did not give him a chance. But he wouldn’t quit and went straight to the top and achieved what he was looking for, and got his chance. Early in Bill’s job, he does surprisingly well. The top dogs at the company think that Bill just may be the man to take over the Shanghai office instead of Mr. Andrews. But he would have to pass one test. Cappy sends Bill out to pick up a blue vase and deliver it back to Cappy by a certain time and place. What Bill doesn’t know is that Cappy sets obstacles to make the task almost impossible. Bill succeeds in this mission to the surprise of Cappy. Bill is only the second person out of fifteen to actually complete the mission. Bill is ultimately offered the job to take over the Shanghai office. At my internship, my supervisor in working the cameras at WICU has not exemplified the same managerial style and qualities as Cappy Ricks. He’s just not that mean, in the sense of sending me out on a bogus story or on a wild goose chase. But he does have confidence in me to shoot what I think is appropriate. His confidence in me does work, because if he would always shoot a story or scene, then how could I learn. I’m not really sure if I’m beneficial to the station because I am only an intern. But there is a little over a month left, so maybe in time I’ll be beneficial to the station.

martin luther king junior :: essays research papers

"One of the world's best known advocates of non-violent social change strategies, Martin Luther King, Jr. synthesized ideas drawn from many differentcultural traditions." (Carson 1). However, these protest strategies onlyfurthered racial segregation, resulting in the eventual death of King. Michael King, who was later known as Martin Luther King, Jr. was born January 15, 1929, at 501 Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia. His roots were in the African-American Baptist church. After his junior year at Morehouse College, Benjamin Mays influenced him to become a minister, the president of Morehouse College. (Smith 1). He studied theologies at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, and at Boston University, where he earned a doctorate in systematic theologies in 1955. (Carson 1). While he was completing his Ph. D. requirements, Martin Luther King, Jr. decided to return to the south. He became the pastor of Dextor Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. (Smith 2). Five days after Rosa Parks refused to obey the city's rules concerning bus segregation, African-American residents of Montgomery, Alabama launched a bus boycott. They elected Martin Luther King, Jr. as president of the Montgomery Improvement Association. (Phillips 3). King received national prominence as the boycott continued, due to his personal courage and exceptional oratical skills. (Carson 2). On charges on conspiracy, Martin Luther King, they bombed Jr.'s house, and they arrested him along with other boycott leaders. (Mark 3). Despite these actions taken against the boycott, Montgomery buses were desegregated in December of 1956. The Supreme Court had declared Alabama's laws of segregation unconstitutional. During 1957, Martin Luther King, Jr. and other African-American ministers established the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). As president of the organization, King emphasized the importance of African- American voting rights. (Phillips 5). King published his first book, Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story. In 1959, he toured India to increase his knowledge and understanding of Gandhian non-violent strategies. By the end of that year, King relinquished the pastorate of Dextor, and returned to Atlanta, where the Southern Christian Leadership Conference headquarters was located. (Carson 2). Martin Luther King, Jr. did not arrange any mass protest activities during the first five years to follow the Montgomery bus boycott. While King was cautious, southern, African-American college students took the initiative, launching many sit-in protests during the winter and spring of 1960. (Itory 3). Conflicts between Martin Luther King, Jr. and the younger protestors were evident when the Southern Christian Leadership Conference assisted the Albany Movement's campaign both of mass protest during December of 1961 and during the summer of 1962. (Phillips 2). In 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr. and his staff guided mass demonstrations

My Educational Philosophy :: Philosophy of Education Teaching Essays

My Educational Philosophy Education is diverse. Due to the various natures of knowledge and students, it is difficult to place my educational philosophy in one category. Each student is unique; curriculums vary depending on many factors. I feel that many educational philosophies are beneficial to education. The nature of students reflects many things including heredity, home life, and society as a whole. Through my experiences working with Americorps/Energy Express, I learned children from lower income families tend to lose three months of education during the summer break. The students never regain these losses. While lower income children lose learning, children from higher income families gain a month of learning. This demonstrates the importance of home life in the nature and education of students. When teaching, one must always consider the aspects that may affect the students’ nature along with the nature of knowledge. Knowledge is both relative and absolute. Literature is an example of relative knowledge. Interpretation of books or poetry depend on the person reading the material, the place where the literature is read, and the time period in which the person is living. Science and mathematics are absolute. One plus one equals two regardless of the time, place, or person. Acquiring knowledge, whether absolute or relative, is the purpose of education. Public education is important to improving society and the future. Like Plato, I feel education gives people the ability to think critically instead of being blindly led by others. As a future teacher, I am idealistic in that I hope to encourage students to challenge themselves, I also hope to encourage students to continue learning throughout life, and prepare for college. To accomplish these goals, I will incorporate pragmatic methods like hands on activities through laboratory experiments and problem solving into my teaching. This also falls under experimentalism. The Socratic method of small group discussions, lecturing, and questioning will be used to help students acquire knowledge. Using many methods will help all students to understand the material presented. Discipline will play an important role in reaching my goals for the students. I plan to use pragmatic methods also in establishing rules.

Characteristics of at-Risk Students (Aed201)

School Program for At-Risk Students In the United States many students face many problems or terrible conditions in their lives at home, school and in life in general. These problems and conditions can affect students tremendously when it comes to schoolwork or academic success. Many schools nationwide have set up programs or assistance to help these students succeed despite the problem or condition being faced. Not all students may encounter a problem or condition, but some encounter multiple problems. The types of problems and conditions include changing families, poverty, violence, abuse of alcohol and/or drugs, suicide, and child abuse (Axia College, 2005). These are serious problems that many students face in today’s world, which can seriously affect academic success. Students who face one or more of these problems is said to be â€Å"at-risk† for academic failure (Axia College, 2005). The characteristics of students placed at-risk are a low SES, inner city, male, transient, minority, non-native English speaker, and divorced families (Axia College, 2005). The only way a school, district, or state can do something about the at-risk students is to assist the needs of these students as much as possible. Many schools, districts, and states have set up special programs for at-risk students, including anything from afterschool programs to housing assistance. Usually the programs assist one of the characteristics of at-risk students to assist these students for their particular problem. The Phillipsburg school district of New Jersey has taken the issue of at-risk students very seriously by setting up an afterschool program to assist students facing the problem of low SES (socioeconomic status). Students who come from a low SES family face issues that interfere with academic success, such as low income families, lack of parental involvement, low exposure to school-related experiences, and so on (Axia College, 2005). The Phillipsburg school district has incorporated a program called Youth Center to assist the students who face these challenges. The Youth Center program is offered to all students, whether from low SES or high SES families. As soon as school ends, the students can board a free bus that transports them directly to the Phillipsburg school district youth center. The youth center contains a gym, field, classrooms, tutors, assistants, and anything else needed for the program. Students are offered tutoring services, homework help, supervised recreation, supervised educational activities, and volunteer opportunities (Wyant, 2010). This program is free of charge and is offered after school of every full day of school. Students arrive immediately after school to the youth center and are allowed to stay there until 6pm. The Youth Center program should be viewed as an exemplary and beneficial program to all. This program is exemplary because it offers many options for students and parents as well. The latchkey students have a place to go instead of sitting at home alone waiting for a parent to arrive. The wide range of activities offered is exemplary because it attracts many different types of students to participate. Offering the program at no cost and no cost transportation is also exemplary and beneficial because these students typically come from low income families that would never be able to afford such a program elsewhere. The benefits of the program go beyond giving the students a place to go free of charge. The academic benefit of this program is exemplary because the students have the access to tutors and homework helpers. Students who have attended this program for one year showed an improvement in school by seventy five percent, which is very good (Wyant, 2010). Since the program was established in the Phillipsburg school district, the academic achievement test scores have risen respectfully. Ensuring the youth center program reaches all targeted students and meet the students’ needs is crucial for this school district. All students and parents are aware of the existence of this program and are often encouraged to join. The statistics have shown how students academically progress after joining the program, which is attractive to other students found in the same situation. The school district is even considering an expansion to the program by adding counselors to assist students’ emotional needs (Wyant, 2010). Many schools, districts, and states are doing everything possible to assist students who are considered at-risk. The Phillipsburg school district has had success with the youth center afterschool program to assist low SES students. There are many programs available to students who are at-risk, but maintaining and improving these programs is essential to success. Students do not have to face the challenges of being at-risk alone anymore. References Axia College of University of Phoenix. (2005). Changes in American Society. Retrieved April 30, 2010, from Axia College, Week Three reading, aXcess, AED201—Teaching as a Profession Course Web site. Wyant, H. (2010). Joseph H. Firth Youth Center. Retrieved April 30, 2010, from http://www. phillipsburgnj. org/index. php? option=com_content&view=article&id=42&Itemid=53 FOR AXIA COLLEGE AED201†¦ RECEIVED â€Å"A† on this paper.

Data Commentary Practice

GRP 5: KONG Chao, MAO Mao, ZHOU Tingting Figure 1 indicates the corresponding percentages of students’ correct answers to comprehension tasks at different thermal environment. According to it, we can tell that students' accuracy in answering questions changes when their environment gets hotter. As can be seen, they answered with higher accuracy at 23. 5? C, and kept the percentages of correct answers around 80%.A peak of approximate 85% was reached when the sessions went for 2 hours (120 minutes). Although during the first 1. 5 hours (90 minutes) students responded even more correctly at 20? C, the accuracy percentage then decreased to about 65% in the following time. As for situations at 27? C, it seemed that students showed a relatively lower degree of accuracy in the whole sessions, and the correct answers accounted for around 65% and never went beyond 70%.After this, another experiment was conducted with all factors staying the same, except a change in the tasks dealt from English comprehension to mathematics. Results are displayed in Figure 2. It’s easily to notice that at 23. 5? C students answered also around 80% questions correctly during the 3-hour math session, and performed better 2 hours (120 minutes) later at accuracy of 85%. However the highest accuracy in the first 1. 5 hours (90 minutes) was corresponding to the environment temperature setting at 20?C, and 85% it represented. With time passing, there were more and more wrong answers and the accordingly down-sloping trend of accuracy stopped at the end of the session, at approximate 75%, which were still 10% higher than the best correct answer percentage at 27? C students could get. The corresponding ratio of right answers began at 60%, then followed an increase and mounted at 65% 2 hours (120 minutes)later. Then it tended to drop slightly, and finally fell to 63%.From what have been observed in both Figure 1 and Figure 2, it is quite clearly that thermal environment do have an effe ct on students' performance. Moreover, what particularly noteworthy is that 23. 5? C proves to be better linked with a better performance on accuracy at the most time. This temperature ensures 80% of responses correct during a 3 hours (120 minutes) session, and even a higher percentage when matched with an appropriate session time setting less than 3 hours (180 minutes). For those sessions lasting for less than 2 hours (120 minutes), environment temperature of 20?C can also guarantee the same high percentage of accuracy, with shorter the lasting time, higher the percentage. Also another thing worthwhile noting is that 20? C clearly beats 23. 5? C when sessions are less than 1. 5 hours (90 minutes). In conclusion, higher performance may be achieved when classroom temperature ranging between 20 to 23. 5? C. Also limitations of the whole experiments exist, such as the weakness of experiment samples in representing the general students, considering they were all NUS students.