Question

I need to turn sections 3.1 and 3.2 into a methods and material section that is around 100-200 words. My experiment is how effective the granularity of coffee is with removing copper ions from water. Thanks.

3.1

Calibration Curve 1. Collect six 25 mL Sample vials and label a vial for each of the concentrations (blank, 0.5, 1, 2, 5,
10 ppm) 2. Dispense 10 mL of each Cu2+ solution into five separate labelled 25mL sample vials 3. Add 10 mL of Deionised Water (found in your bench cupboards) into the vial labelled blank. 4. Add 5 mL of ammonium acetate buffer solution into each sample vial 5. Add 5 mL of Alizarin Red solution to each sample vial 6. Place the lid on the vials and gently agitate the vials using either a vortex mixer or your hands
(moving in a swirling motion) 7. Retrieve a cuvette to use for your experiments – all measurements must be performed in the
same cuvette. 8. Using a plastic pipette, rinse the curvette with your blank solution. You can dispose of your rinses in a beaker. All waste must be disposed of in the aqueous heavy metal salt solution
containers 9. After two rinses, place enough of your solution in the cuvette (until it reaches the line) 10. Place the cuvette in the spectrophotometer with the ‘striped’ side facing you. Make sure you
clean the smooth side with a kimwipe to remove any fingerprints. 11. Allow the reading to stop fluctuating before recording your measurement in the excel
spreadsheet. 12. Rinse the cuvette with your next solution to be measured (0.5 ppm) twice repeat steps 7-10 for
each solution to be measured, until all solutions have been recorded.
3.2

Extraction of copper ions using coffee grounds
1. Collect two new 50 mL centrifuge tubes 2. Dispense 30 mL of solution of a chosen concentration into your centrifuge tube (e.g. 1 ppm) 3. Dispense 30 mL of solution of another concentration into your centrifuge tube (e.g. 2 ppm) 4. Add 15 mL of ammonium acetate buffer solution into each centrifuge tube 5. Place the lid on the centrifuge tubes and gently agitate the centrifuge tubes using either a
vortex mixer or your hands (moving in a swirling motion)
6. From each solution, remove 10 mL of your mixed solutions and transfer each to a new labelled
25 mL Sample vial.
7. Add 5 mL of Alizarin Red Solution to each of these new sample vials.
8. Transfer a sample of a solution to your cuvette and record the value from the
spectrophotometer in your excel spreadsheet. Repeat this process another two times for each
solution (you should collect 3 readings for each concentration of copper ions).
9. Collect six 15 mL centrifuge tubes, label each tube with the concentration of the solutions
10. Transfer 10mL of the solutions WITHOUT ALIZARIN RED for each concentration into three
separate labelled 15 mL centrifuge tubes.
11. Add 0.1 g of the coffee grounds into each centrifuge tube.
12. Vortex/stir each tube for 5-15 seconds (be consistent with each solution)
13. Allow the solutions to rest for 10 minutes.
14. Place the centrifuge tubes into the centrifuge. Ask you demonstrators to help you. Centrifuge
the solutions at 5000 rpm for 5 minutes.
15. Remove tubes from the centrifuge and pipette out the solution into a 25 mL vial.
16. Add 2.5 mL of Alizarin Red to each vial.

Answer 1

Material and methodology:

3.1 Callibration curve:

1. Label six 25ml vials in a increasing concentration(ppm) as blank, 0.5,1, 2 ,5 and 10 ppm.

2. Add 10ml of deionised water to the blank while Cu2+ solution to the remaining vials.

3. Add 5 mL of ammonium acetate buffer to each vial.

4. Add 5 mL of Alizarin Red solution.

5. Vortex the vials after placing the lids.

6. After rinsing the cuvetted with blank sample add the solution into the cuvette till it reaches the line.

7. Now place the cuvette in the spectrophotometer properly.

8. Record the reading once the spectrophotmeter stops fluctuating the readings.

9. Rinse the cuvette with your next solution to be measured and repeat the steps from 6-8.

3.2 Extraction of copper ions using coffee grounds:

1.Dispense 30ml of the two different concentrated solution into the 50 ml centrifuge tubes.

2. Add 15 mL of ammonium acetate buffer solution into each.

3. Vortex the solutions.

4. Remove 10 mL of the solutions from each tubes and transfer each to a new labeled
25 mL sample vial.

5. Add 5 mL of Alizarin Red Solution to each.

6.Using the spectrophotometer record the values in your excel spreadsheet in a triplicate (3 readings) form for each solution.

7. Collect six 15 mL centrifuge tubes and  label the concentration of the solutions

8. Transfer 10mL of each concentrated solutions into 3 separate labeled 15 mL centrifuge tubes.

9. Add 0.1 g of the coffee grounds into each tube.

10. Vortex for 5-15 seconds.

11. Incubate the solutions for 10 minutes.