Comparison of Ph Between: Coffee, Coffee (Tums) and Coffee (Alka-Seltzer) Essay

Tums and Alka-Seltzer are drugs found in most retail stores, they relieve heartburn, acid ingestion and minor aches/pain (Alka-Seltzer). Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages in the world. It has a stimulating effect due to caffeine and enhances alertness/awareness. Objective/ Hypothesis Coffee is slightly acidic, with distribution of components such as Tums and Alka-Seltzer the various ph levels should be different. So the control treatment (coffee) will have a lower ph then coffee (Tums) and coffee (Alka-Seltzer). Null Hypothesis: Ph levels between Tums and Alka-Seltzer will be slightly different in each treatment. Alternative Hypothesis: Ph levels between Tums and Alka-Seltzer will be similar in each treatment. Methods The treatments were carefully observed. Recording the ph levels were taken with caution to not contaminate the solutions. The three solutions had 50 ml of coffee each, the other two treatments contained a tablet of Tums and one of Alka-Seltzer. Results and Discussion During the experiment each lab tables ran their individual test. The same amount of coffee was used in the solutions for each table, also one tablet of Tums and Alka-Seltzer was used in the solutions. The results on the lab tables were slightly different. PH Table #| Control| Tums| Alka Seltzer| 1| 6.33| 6.68| 6.92| 2| 6.34| 6.80| 6.75| 3| 6.39| 7.34| 6.92| 4| 6.39| 7.11| 6.82| 5| 6.5| 7.05| 6.88| The ph for each treatment are different although the error bars show that ph are not exact. There is uncertainty in the ph for the treatments, the ph can either be higher or lower. Conclusions The treatments showed different ph levels on each lab table even though the same amount of components was distributed. Also the ph level between the alka-seltzer and tums were different. Tums treatment is less acidic then the alka-seltzer treatment, so using tums for treatment of heartburns and acid reflux may be more effective then alka-seltzer. References Alka-Seltzer from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alka-Seltzer Tums from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tums