Plan and design

Fruit ripening

Statement of problem:.
Hypothesis: unripen papaws are likely to become ripe faster when surrounded by
ripe mangoes due to the secretion of a natural fruit ripening hormone from the ripe
mangoes.
Aim: to determine if unripe papaws will ripen faster around ripe mangoes
Materials:
- 4 unripe bananas
- 2 ripe mangoes
- 4 Gallon- zip lock bags big enough to hold both the papaw and
- Sharp knife
- Sharp knife
- Cutting board
- Petri dish
- Iodine solution
- marker
Method
1) Place a banana into each of the zip lock bags.
2) Place one mango each into two of the bags and zip them all closed, ensure it
is properly sealed.
3) Label the bags A-D using the marker
4) Leave the 4 bags containing fruits for 4 days at room temperature
5) Monitor the fruits once daily after the first day, observe for any colour change
in the banana and Record observations
6) Repeat step 4 for another 2 days
7) On the fourth day prepare for the testing of starch in the fruit firstly by
pouring 5cm3 of iodine solution into the petri dish
8) Cut a cross section of one of the bananas taking into consideration the letter
on the bag which the banana came from.
9) Place the half section of the banana cut side down into the iodine solution in
the petri dish and leave for one minute.
10) Remove the banana from the solution and rinse the face where it is
stained with water
11) Repeat steps 8-10 for the other bananas
12) Observe and record the level of colour stain by charactering them
according to either highly stained, lightly stained or unstained.
Variables
Controlled- statement
Concentration of ethylene in the bags by keeping the zip lock bags completely
sealed
Independent Variable the bags with. The ripenfruit
Dependent. Variable the unripen fruit .

Expected results

Banana sample from Observation

Bag 1 Light stained
Bag 2 Lightly stained
Bag 3 Darkly stained
Bag 4 Darkly stained

Results to be collected from the testing for starch in the four bananas
Interpretation of results
Iodine solution is use as an indicator used to point out the presence of starch, the
iodine solution binds with starch molecules producing a starch/iodine complex to
reveal a dark colouring on the sample therefore the darker the stain the more
starch the fruit has, and the more starch it has the less ripe it is. The fruit that have
a lighter pigmentation or none would have ripened by a hormone produced by the
fruits called ethylene, ethylene changes the fruit flavor, texture, colour and the
starch that was present in the fruit would have been converted in to sugars which is
not indicated by the iodine solution.
Limitation
Size of the bag- depending on the size of bag the concentration of ethylene would
be less in a big bag compared to that of a smaller bag thus affecting the rate of
ripening

Precaution
Do not rinse the banana sample to vigoursly- this can method can rinse the
iodine/starch complex
Source of error