Your company has won a contract from Consumer Reports to evaluate the effectiveness of three popular brands of antacid tablets.
Consumer Reports expects tests to be conducted to evaluate each brand’s ability to neutralize 1mL of HCl, hydrochloric acid, found in
human stomachs, in the most cost efficient way. Cost efficient is defined by Consumer Reports as the least amount of antacid product to
achieve a pH 7. When purchased at retail, each of the antacids cost $4.99 for 150 tablets. Consumer Reports also informs us that the
labels on the containers state that each Maalox tablet contains 600 mg of calcium carbonate; each tablet of TUMS contains 500 mg of
calcium carbonate; and Rolaids contains 550 mg of calcium carbonate + 110 mg of Magnesium hydroxide. Consumer Reports cautions us
that the mass of each tablet was not stated on the label and may be a factor that needs to be investigated because Consumer Reports is
concerned that other compounds may be present in the tablets.
As a member of one of the research teams of GPS34-CDS, Inc, your task is to design an experiment to test the effectiveness of these
products. You need to develop a proposal which includes a problem statement, an experimental design with a procedure to address the
problem including an hypothesis and a control setup for comparison of results. You may collaborate with one other team to share test
procedures and data. Specific measurement steps must be included and specific amounts of product also need to be included. Safety
issues also need to be included in your proposal. Consumer Reports has designated a representative to review your proposals prior to
starting testing. The representative has the HCl and the antacid tablets as well as pH test indicators, massing scales, gloves, goggles and
aprons which will be available when an appropriate proposal is tended. Consumer Reports has publication deadline to meet and requires a
completed report of your investigation and your recommendations by the end of your next class. The report needs to include a statement
of the problem, a replicable procedure, the data in chart and graph form, and a conclusion based on the evidence and data from your
testing. An analysis of the validity of your experiments expressing why you are confident in the results is also expected as part of the
report.
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ConsumerReports/C:antacidInvestigationFeb2007
Team Members ____________________________ ____________________________
The following is our proposal for Consumers Reports request for evaluation of effectiveness of Tums, Rolaids, and Maalox in
neutralizing stomach acids. (A work sheet is attached for identifying the parts of this investigation.)
Statement of
Problem:_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Hypothesis:_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Prediction to be
tested:_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Materials Needed
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Procedure : The following is the procedure we will follow including safety concerns, measurement steps , recording data steps, repeated
trials. The procedure is written in sufficient detail that another team could duplicate our experiment by following our steps exactly
without needing interpretation or our help. The “control” setup will be specifically identified.
Step 1
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_________ Names ___________________________________ Period __________________ Date_____ c:experimentalDesignDiagram 9/03lc
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Of Team Members
Work sheet for the Proposal for Consumers Report Antacid Tests
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
PROBLEM STATEMENT:
HYPOTHESIS: ( if….. then …..)
Prediction:
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE: IV (what you are purposefully changing)
CONTROL
# TRIALS
“Levels” of Independent Variable (variations/changes you are doing to I.V. )
#TRIALS
# TRIALS
#TRIALS
# TRIALS
DEPENDENT VARIABLE: DV ( what changes as a result of your changing the IV; also need measurements, data table)
CONSTANTS: (things that could change but you want to keep the same)
MATERIALS, SUPPLIES, TOOLS:
PROCEEDURES, METHODS: WRITE ON THE BACK OF THIS GRAPHIC ORGANIZER; -detail and sequence!
Title of Experiment: (Use combination of IV and DV for an appropriate title)
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