Lab Report

Lab Report
Calculating Energy Content of Foods with a Calorimeter

Answer the following questions about the results of this activity. Record your answers in the
boxes.

Send your completed lab report to your instructor. Dont forget to save your lab report to your
computer!

You will need the following table, information, and formula to calculate the information in the
lab activities:

Food Fat* Carbohydrates* Protein*

Beef 21 2 21
Bread 2 40 7
Celery 0 3 0
Chicken 11 5 29
*Grams of molecule per 100 grams of food

Calories per gram of food molecules:

Carbohydrates: 1 gram = 4 calories
Fat: 1 gram = 9 calories
Protein: 1 gram = 4 calories
Nucleic Acids: 1 gram = 4 calories (rarely broken down for energy)

Formula for expected calories in a food (nucleic acid content is negligible):

Total Expected Calories of sample =

(grams of sample/100 grams x grams of fat per 100 grams of food x 9 calories) +
(grams of sample/100 grams x grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams of food x 4 calories) +
(grams of sample/100 grams x grams of protein per 100 grams of food x 4 calories).
Activity 1 Calibration
Record your data from Activity 1 in the boxes below. Enter the data you collected for the samples
you tested (carbohydrates, fat, protein, nucleic acids) in the Readout Calories columns. Then
calculate the theoretical caloric content of the carbohydrates, fat, protein, and nucleic acids
samples based on the table and information given above. Place the answers in the Expected
Calories columns.

Sample Carbohydrates Fat Protein Nucleic

Acids

40 calories 89 calories 40 calories 41 calories

Readout
Calories

40 calories 90 calories 40 calories 40 calories

Expected
Calories

1. Is the calorimeter accurate enough for use in an experiment?

Explain.

By comparing the readout calories and the expected calories, the

calorimeter can be considered accurate because it has only a +_
offset error of 1. A gram of fat contains 9 calories while a gram of
nucleic acids contain 4 calories so having an offset of 1 does not tell
much about the difference of weight in the samples.

Activity 2
Record your data from Activity 2 in the boxes below. Enter the data you collected for the
samples you tested (beef, bread, celery, chicken) in the appropriate columns (weight in grams,
readout calories). Then calculate the theoretical caloric content of the food based on its
composition of carbohydrates, fat, protein, nucleic acids samples based on the table and formula
given above. Place the answers in the Expected Calories columns.

Food Weight in Grams Readout Calories Expected

Calories
130 g 340 calories 245.7+10.4+109.2 =
Beef 365.3 calories

60 g 118 calories 23.4+208+36.4=267.8

Bread calories

110 g 10 calories 15.6 calories

Celery

150 g 231 calories 128.7+26+150.8=305.5

Chicken calories

2. Explain why the grams of the nutrient molecules in a food do not add
up to the total gram weight of the food.

The grams of the nutrient molecules do not add up to the total gram
weight of food because food samples contain other constituents that
contribute to its weight. According to the Food and Agriculture
Organization, the dietary constituents are as follows: Water,
Carbohydrates, Fats, Proteins, Minerals, Vitamins, and Indigestible
particles. Water and indigestible particles contribute a large portion
on the weight of different food so that is why the added nutrient
molecules will be less than the total gram weight of the food.

3. Explain why the calorimeter value varied from the expected caloric
 content calculated for each food.

The calorimeter value varies differently from the expected caloric

content because the expected caloric content is based from the
Atwater general factor system which gives a constant value for
different nutrients found in food. The Atwater general factor system
creates a good estimate in analyzing the different nutrients but it is
not necessarily accurate. In truth, calorie content can vary based on
the several factors. Proteins can differ in their amino acid composition
which also differs their heats of combustion. With different heats of
combustion, some proteins might produce less calories if their heat of

Activity 3
Record your data from Activity 3 in the boxes below. Enter the data you collected for the
samples you tested (beef, bread, celery, chicken) in the columns for the appropriated animals
(cow, dog, rat, human).

Sample Cow Dog Rat Human

280 calories 405 calories 345 calories 340 calories

Beef

122 calories 50 calories 115 calories 118 calories

Bread

200 calories 1 calorie 12 calories 10 calories

Celery

193 calories 300 calories 240 calories 231 calories

Chicken
 4. Explain why there might be differences in the calorie calculations for
the different animals.

Different animals have different abilities to break down food so each

animal would gain different calories by eating certain food. Cows get
the highest calorie count for celery because it has an enzyme that
helps it digest cellulose which is found in most plants.

5. Explain why it is important to know that animals vary in their ability

to obtain calories from food.

By knowing the amount of calories that different animals can obtain

from food, a researcher could figure out diets that these different
animals need to get them the most energy from calories. Allocation of
food supplies would also be affected. For example, animal care takers
would not continually give dogs celery if they can only get 1 calorie
from it.

References:

CHAPTER 3: CALCULATION OF THE ENERGY CONTENT OF FOODS - ENERGY

CONVERSION FACTORS. (n.d.). Retrieved March 30, 2017, from
http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y5022e/y5022e04.htm

Part II. Basic nutrition. (n.d.). Retrieved March 30, 2017, from
http://www.fao.org/docrep/w0073e/w0073e04.htm