Purpose: To create a scaffold material To determine which substance is a monovalent cation and which is a divalent cation

Hypothesis: The red and blue cations will react with the yellow alginate to form a solid.

Procedure:
1. Obtain three test tubes, three syringes (one syringe for each solution), three unknown solutions (blue, red and yellow), and a tray
2. Mix different amounts of the three solutions in different combinations in the test tubes as shown in the chart below (use the syringes to take out fixed amounts of solutions to combine)
3. Record observations in the data table

Data:
RED SUBSTANCE BLUE SUBSTANCE YELLOW SUBSTANCE (alginate) RESULTS
2 mL 2 mL (placed first) Orange liquid (no reaction) 2 mL 2 mL (placed first) No reaction
2 mL (placed first) 2 mL No reaction 2 mL (placed first) 2 mL Long, solid chain of small, round ball formed
2 mL (placed second) 2 mL (placed first) 2 mL Long, thick solid chain formed
2 mL (all solutions added together at the same time) 2 mL 2 mL Long, thick solid chain formed

Conclusion:
Based on the experiment, it was determined that the blue substance was the divalent cation because it reacted with the yellow alginate to form a solid material. Because the blue divalent cation had a +2 charge, each divalent cation could bond with and connect two -1 charged anions of alginate together, thus creating a solid that could serve as ideal material to construct a scaffold. The alginate would only