Honor’s College Freeman Research Journal

Author

Holly Mills

Date of Award

Fall 12-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Chemistry

First Advisor

Hector Miranda Jr.

Abstract

Several aspects of water and water quality were reviewed and investigated in this study; the effects of dehydration on human health, the role of alkalinity in drinking water, and the actual levels of alkalinity and other minerals in commercial drinking water. Hydration plays a critical role in human physical performance as well as in the prevention of chronic diseases. This experiment was conducted to determine if the level of acidity ( or alkalinity) of commercial alkaline water are truly above the normal ph levels, and to identify the salts in each type of water. Based on researches, a more alkaline distilled water has more health benefits in contrast to acidic water, or drinking water with low pH. In this experiment, the mineral content of each water was observed by using the ICPMS. Results showed that the Fiji water sample had the highest amount of calcium, potassium, magnesium and sodium present. This was followed by Alkaline 88, Niagara and lastly, distilled water. Results have shown the positive correlation between mineral content and pH level. Alkaline 88 showed the highest level of alkalinity, with an average pH of 8.26 from the conducted 3 trials. Fiji water had an average pH of 7.02, distilled water had 6.73 and lastly, Niagara had an average pH of 5.42. Niagara, being the cheapest and most popular, had a pH lower than what was put on the label, and the lowest pH of all the samples, which may be 10 to 100 times more acidic than the acceptable values.

Included in

Chemistry Commons

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