Final Report Draft

Introduction

Aim: to test the efficiency of various types of antacid tablets

Hypothesis: The tablets will neutralise the acid in less than 10 minutes with Ortac being the most effective and Nexum being the least.

Equipment used:

Red cabbage indicator (homemade with red cabbage and hot water) Measuring cup Lemon juice Plastic cups Antacid tablets

Neotack (Ranitidine 150mg) Ortac (Ranitidine 150mg) Nexum (Esomeprazole 40mg) Entacyd (Dried Hydroxide Magnesium)

Stopwatch

Risk Assessment:

Although this experiment is generally very safe there are a few risks which may occur. There are various liquids involved so spillages are very likely. This is why the experiment will be conducted on a covered surface or on a tray away from other objects specifically electrical appliances to avoid damages.While creating the red cabbage indicator a knife has to be used to cut the cabbage. Using a knife can lead to cuts or other injuries and so the knife must be used carefully.Hot water used for the indicator can burn skin so it must be poured carefully. The lemon juice can come into contact with the eyes or previous injuries causing irritation which is why glasses and gloves will be worn as precaution.

Method:

1. label each glass with the names of the antacids being used

2. add 10mL of red cabbage indicator into each glass

3. add 10mL of lemon juice to each glass

4. crush an antacid pill with the mortar and pestle and pour into the glass

5. Record the time it takes for the lemon juice to change colour into a more neutral scale.

6. repeat with the other brands of antacids

Results

Trial One

Antacid Brand Time for final reaction to occur

Image

None –

Neotack (Ranitidine 150mg) It took 00:01:10.7 for the solution to turn a slightly more faded shade of pink.

Ortac (Ranitidine 150mg) It took 00:01:17.9 for the solution to turn slightly lighter.

Nexum (Esomeprazole 40mg) It took 00:01:28.6 for the solution to turn this shade of brown.

Entacyd (Dried Hydroxide Magnesium)

It took 03:10:45.2 for the solution to settle on this shade of green

Trial two

Antacid Brand Time for final reaction to occur

Image

Neotack (Ranitidine 150mg) It took 00:01:08.2 for the solution to settle on the same colour as trial one.

Ortac (Ranitidine 150mg) It took 00:01:14.5 for the solution to settle on the same colour in trial one.

Nexum (Esomeprazole 40mg) It took 00:01:25.6 for the solution to turn this shade of brown which is darker than trial one.

Entacyd (Dried Hydroxide Magnesium)

It took 03:04:14.3 for the solution to settle on this shade of green/blue

Trial three

Antacid Brand Time for final reaction to occur

Image

Neotack (Ranitidine 150mg) It took 00:01:05.9 for the solution to settle on a slightly darker shade of pink/red than the previous trials.

Ortac (Ranitidine 150mg) It took 00:01:14.2 for the solution to settle on a redder colour than the previous trials.

Nexum (Esomeprazole 40mg) It took 00:01:26.6 for the solution to turn this shade of purple/brown.

Entacyd (Dried Hydroxide Magnesium)

It took 03:00:34.2 for the solution to settle on this shade of blue

Observations over time

Within five minutes:

All cups have settled on their final colour except for ‘Entacyd’ (Dried Hydroxide Magnesium) (the bottom right corner), which is a shade of murky purple/pink.

Within an hour:

No changes have occurred overall.

Within two hours:

The ‘Entacyd’ (Dried Hydroxide Magnesium) cup (the last one on the right) has now turned into a shade of purple/grey. No other solutions have changed.

Within three hours:

All the other cups have remained the same whilst the ‘Entacyd’ (Dried Hydroxide Magnesium) cup (the last one on the right) has settled on a green/blue

After twenty four hours:

No changes have occurred overall

Analysis

Antacid Colour ph.

Neotack (Ranitidine 150mg) 2

Ortac (Ranitidine 150mg) 2

Nexum (Esomeprazole 40mg) 2-4

Entacyd (Dried Hydroxide Magnesium)

10

From the table above it can clearly be seen that Entacyd (Dried Hydroxide Magnesium) was the only tablet to neutralise the lemon juice completely. Neotack (Ranitidine 150mg) and Ortac (Ranitidine 150mg) were the least effective brands of antacid as the solutions were still strongly acidic. Nexum (Esomeprazole 40mg) was slightly more effective as the colour was somewhere between a brown and a purple (which is more visible in the trial three results). These three antacid brands stopped changing colour within five minutes of placing the crushed antacid into the lemon juice whilst Entacyd (Dried Hydroxide Magnesium) took three hours to settle on a blue/green solution.

Discussion

Problems faced:

Some of the tablets failed to neutralise the acid as they were not tested with the recommended dosage.

Odd results:

When testing the Nexum (Esomeprazole 40mg) tablet the resulting solutions ended up a different colour in each trial. This was odd as none of the other tablets changed in colour except for the Entacyd (Dried Hydroxide Magnesium) tablet which ranged from a green, to a green/blue and then a blue in the three trials. These odd results could be due to a change in weather during the trials or the change in lighting.

Project evaluation:

The experiment would be more accurate if the tablets had been tested in their recommended dosage. Some of the antacid tablets required them to be consumed twice daily while other dosages remained unknown as the information could not be obtained. The actual effects of the tablets could have been properly investigated if the antacids were tested in their correct doses instead of only one tablet for each trial.

A greater variety of antacid brands would have made this experiment a wider study of the effects of antacids. As all of the tested brands were manufactured in the same foreign country, it would have been a more thorough investigation to use Australian brands or to use liquid forms of antacids and compare them with the tablet forms and brands.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the hypothesis was proved to be incorrect as it stated, “The tablets will neutralise the acid in less than an hour with 'Ortac' being the most effective brand and 'Nexum' being the least”, when the correct result was that the only successful neutralisation occurred after three hours with ‘Entacyd’ being the most effective brand and ‘Ortac’ and ‘Neotack’ being the least effective brands. This proves that my research was not accurate enough to truly estimate the effects of different antacids and the time it takes for it to achieve its effects.

Abstract

The purpose of conducting this experiment is to test the efficiency of different types of antacid tablets. The experiment consists of observing how effectively different brands of antacids neutralise acids. This is important for differentiating between the good and bad products which people consume. This experiment investigated the effects of antacid tablets through placing antacid tablets in glasses of lemon juice, which is a citric acid, and acid-base indicator. When the acid and the antacid combined the acid became neutralised in a chemical reaction, such as colour change, which was timed using a stopwatch. The more efficient type of antacid could be determined by observing which antacid-lemon juice solution turned into a more neutral colour on the pH scale the quickest. Throughout this experiment that out of the three antacid types that were tested (ranitidine, esomeprazole and dried hydroxide magnesium) the most effective was dried hydroxide magnesium and the least effective was the two brands of ranitidine.