Abstract:

Energy drinks produce various health effects. Adjusting the composition and content of the natural nutrients in drinks can enable them to meet the nutritional needs of special groups of people. The quality of ingredients in beverages is directly related to the health of the people that consume them, and it is also an important part of the national food quality monitoring work. Based on the instrumental analysis experimental course of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Shandong University, students independently designed experimental plans while teachers reviewed, guided, and supervised them. Their plans, which were closely associated with practical problems related to health, aimed to strengthen and expand the significance and application value of experimental learning. With the help of atomic absorption spectroscopy, they determined the zinc/sodium/potassium ion contents in commercially available energy drinks. The determined contents were tested and compared with the reference content marked on the package to determine whether there was any food quality problem with the drinks. The experiment conducted by the students completely supported their subjective initiative, enabling them to strengthen their theoretical knowledge learning, improve their practical ability, and deepen their understanding and application of atomic absorption spectroscopy in practice. This experiment fully reflected that theory and practice informed each other and allowed students to flexibly exploit the knowledge they gained in the course to solve practical problems, enabling them to intimately experience the close connection between life and chemistry.

Key words: Instrumental analysis, Design experiment, Atomic Absorption Spectrometry, Energy drinks, Ion contents