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Country Candy Color Science Fair Projects

Taste victory when you complete country candy color science fair projects.
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Candy science fair projects investigate color formulas...

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Food Colors

Food colors are dyes that are made from pigments that are non-toxic. Usually these pigments are extracted from plants, however, this is not always the case.

 

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Objectives/Goals

To determine if the food dyes used in making similar colored chocolate candies made in two different countries are the same.

Methods/Materials

I used paper chromatography to find the retention factors of the food dyes used in green, blue and red M&Ms (made in the USA) and green, blue and red Smarties (made in the UK). Using distilled water, I extracted the dye from 20 pieces of each color of the M&Ms. I prepared and tested 5 paper chromatography strips for each color. Then I repeated the same procedure for the Smarties. Out of curiosity, I tested green, blue and red liquid food dyes to see if I can identify any of the dyes used in the candies by comparing the retention factors.

Results

My results showed that the retention factors for the food dyes used in M&Ms and Smarties were not the same.

Conclusions/Discussion

My conclusion is that the food dyes used in making M&Ms and Smarties are different. From my research, I found out that the food dyes used in M&Ms are artificial, while the food dyes used in Smarties are natural. 3rd party contributor