Yes, There Is Iron In Your Cereal!

Macie Meade

Which brand of cereal has the most iron in it?

Hypothesis

My hypothesis is Cheerios will have more iron in them than Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Trix, and Cocoa Puffs.

What You Will Need• 4 bowls• 1 wooden spoon• 4 bar magnets• Multiple types of cereal• Measuring cups• Water

Safety First!One safety rule I followed was to never run during a lab. To follow this rule I stayed by my experiment so I would not have to run or even walk. Another safety rule I followed was to never do an experiment without permission. I followed this rule by making sure it was okay with my parents to perform this experiment.

Procedure1. Measure out two cups of each brand of cereal.2. Pour each brand into separate bowls.3. After the cereal is in the bowls pour enough water

in the bowls to cover the cereal.4. Let the cereal soak until it is mushy.5. Stir the cereal vigorously for five minutes.6. Put the magnet in the cereal and stir for a few more

minutes.7. Let the mixture stand for ten minutes.

8. After ten minutes remove the magnet and pour out the cereal.

9. Estimate the percent of the magnet that is covered by little black specs. This is the iron.

10. Record the percents.

Procedure (cont.)

Mind Your Variables!Independent: brand of cereal

Controlled: amount of cereal used; amount of water used; size of magnets; amount of time the magnet is left in mixture

Data Brand Percent Cheerios 70%

Trix 25%

Cinnamon Toast Crunch 50%

Cocoa Puffs 25%

Percent of Magnet Covered

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

Percent of Magnet Covered

0% 10% 20% 30%

Percent of Magnet Covered

0% 20% 40% 60%

Percent of Magnet Covered

0% 10% 20% 30%

How Much Iron is in Your Cereal?

Cheerios Trix Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Cocoa Puffs0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Brand of Cereal

Perc

ent o

f Mag

net I

ron

Cove

red

Conclusion In conclusion, my hypothesis stated Cheerios will have more iron in them than Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Trix, and Cocoa Puffs. My hypothesis was correct. According to the data Cheerios had the most iron. It covered 70% of the magnet. Next was Cinnamon Toast Crunch which covered 50% of the magnet. Last was Trix and Cocoa Puffs, covering 25% of the magnet.

One problem that may have occurred with the lab is that when the magnet was being taken out of the mix some iron may have rubbed off. A solution to the problem would be to dump the cereal out and then look at the magnet.

Another problem that may have occurred was maybe certain cereals got soggier faster than others. A solution to the problem would be to make sure the cereal was just as soggy as the others rather than just stirring for five minutes.