Question: I want to know a method to quantify milk proteins using the foldable mini spectrometer, Is this possible?

julsmill is asking a question about spectrometry
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by julsmill | December 20, 2017 13:19 | #15404


I am a high school student and this is my research project for the IB and I basically want to know if it is possible to quantify the protein in (cow milk, almond milk, coconut milk, oat milk) and in case it is, do I need to dilute the milk? How should I do it? Can I get quantified results out of it? Can I do it with a CFL bulb?

Thank you very much!



2 Comments

Hi, would this help? https://publiclab.org/notes/wagnerc4/02-05-2014/fat-percent-in-milk

I think it's fat percent, not proteins, but it could be similar?

Also, you may want to use a more rigid spectrometer kit like the #lego-spectromter

Sounds interesting!

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It sounds like Warren answered the question. I can give some more background.

Proteins contain nitrogen, which isn't present in many other milk compounds. This nitrogen is often used to track the milk proteins. The earliest method I used was kjeldahl. Don't try this method unless you want to swear.

A number of other methods have been developed including some base on near infra-red NIR. Most of them are looking for casein.

Good luck with your project. Our district science fair is in late March.

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