Question

In a series of experiments on the determination of tin in foodstuffs, samples were boiled with hydrochloric acid under reflux for different times. The results were as follows. Provide detailed answers including your hypothesis and conclusion statements. Refluxing Time (min) Tin Found (mg/Kg) 30 1.35, 1.65, 1.76, 1.41, 1.80, 1.33 75 1.90, 1.82, 1.70, 1.94, 1.85, 1.90 Does the mean amount of tin found differ significantly for the two boiling times?

Answer 1

The average or mean amount of tin found in different food stuffs for different refluxing times comes out to be 1.55 mg/kg (for 30 min) and 1.85 mg/kg (for 75 min).

Hypothesis: With the increase in refluxing time, the amount of tin found in the samples must increase.

Reason: The reason for the above hypothesis is that when refluxing time is increased the high boiling components get separated from low boiling components in a mixture more efficiently.

Observation: The increase in amount of tin found in each of the food stuffs is apparent from the data provided.

For significance: Any statistical test can be performed which depends on the range of data and fall in the purview of statistics. However, the increase in amounts of tin show clear increases and the mean values do indicate an increase of 0.30 mg/kg which may be significant

Conclusion

Possible explanation for the differing increases in different food stuffs: The increase depends on the nature of food stuff. If the boiling points are closer in a mixture, the increase would be lesser.