Name:____________________________

Date:_____________________

Sequence Guide: How Accurate are these

Nutrition labels for each of these foods?
Step 1: Initial Investigation: What is the calorie content of each of your food samples by
serving/mass? Write these in the space below. What is your personal experience/view to the
question at the top of this page? Use one website, like thecaloriecounter.com, to support your
claims.
Cheese puffs 122 Cal per 28.35 g = 4.3 Cal/g; Marshmallow 22 Cal per 7
g = 3.14 Cal/g; Onion Ring - 195 Cal per 48 g = 4.06 Cal/g.
Based on my experiences, these values should be accurate. Members in
my family use nutrition labels to count calories all the time, and to stick to
a diet regimen.
I consider these values
accurate, and I believe todays lab will indicate this.

Step 2: Data Table. Collect the following data for each of your food samples during the
combustion activity. (This is to take place after youve set-up your soda can calorimeter with
your partner.)

Cheese puff
21.8 C
Marshmallow
22.0C
Onion Ring
23.0C

4.18 g

4.08 g
27.1C

6.08 g

6.00 g
23.6C

4.87 g
30.1C

4.74 g

Step 3: Calculations (for each food sample)

1. Determine the change in temperature of the water by subtracting the initial water temperature
from the final water temperature.
T = Tfinal - Tinitial = 27.1C - 21.8C = 5.3C

30.1C - 23.0C = 7.1C

23.6C - 22.0C = 1.6C

2.

Calculate the heat gained by the water using the equation Q = m x C x T. The mass of water
used is 50.0 g and the specific heat of water, C, is 1.0 cal/g C. These values will give you the
heat gained in calories.
1

50.0 g x 1.0 cal/g C x 5.3C = 265 cal

50.0 g x 1.0 cal/g C x 7.1C = 355 cal

50.0 g x 1.0 cal/g C x 1.6C = 80 cal

3.

Convert the heat gained from calories to food Calories (kilocalories) by dividing the answer
above, Q, by 1000.

265 cal 1000 = 0.265 Cal

355 cal 1000 = 0.355 Cal

80 cal 1000 = 0.080 Cal

4. Determine how much of the food burned by subtracting the final mass of the cork/pin/food
assembly from the initial mass.
4.18 g - 4.08 g = 0.10 g

4.87 g - 4.74 g = 0.13 g

6.08 g - 6.00 g = 0.08 g

5. Calculate the energy content per gram of the food sample. This is done by dividing the heat gain
of the water (in Calories),by the change in mass of the food sample.
0.265 Cal 0.10 g = 2.65 Cal./g

0.355 Cal 0.13 g = 2.73 Cal./g

0.080 Cal 0.08 g = 1.0 Cal/g

6. Convert the energy content per gram of food sample to energy content per nutrition label serving
(on board).
Not Needed:
Cheese Puff: 0.265 Cal 0.10 g = 2.65 Cal./g
2.73 Cal./g

Onion Ring: 0.355 Cal 0.13 g =

Marshmallow: 0.080 Cal 0.08 g = 1.0 Cal/g

Step 4: Summary of Results: Do your calculations for the calorie content in your food samples
agree with calorie content on the nutrition labels? If yes, explain why citing your calculations. If not,
reflect on the discrepancies and provide reasons why these values would be dissimilar.

No. Each of my calculated kilocalorie contents (Cal.) for each of my food samples were less than
what the nutrition labels indicated. The nutrition labels indicated the following Cal. contents for
the cheese puff, marshmallow, and onion ring, respectively: 4.3 Cal./g, 3.14 Cal./g, and
4.06 Cal./g. But I calculated values that were in most cases less than half
of the values indicated on the nutrition labels. One possible reason is that
the soda can calorimeter is not a closed system, and so a lot of heat
energy fails to get measured with the standard alcohol-based
thermometer.

Step 5: Critical Thinking: Go to the Youtube How a Bomb Calorimeter Works and pay
attention to what the narrator says. Is soda can calorimetry as accurate as bomb calorimetry?
Why or why not?
Soda can calorimetry is not as accurate as bomb calorimetry, because it is an open system, unlike
the bomb calorimeter, which is a closed system and is a much more better set-up for measuring
the rise in water temperature as the food sample undergoes combustion.