Research Question : "How can the pH-sensitive properties of butterfly pea flower (Clitoria ternatea) anthocyanins be utilized to develop a color-shifting lemonade drink that enhances scientific understanding, visual engagement, and practicality for educational and daily consumption purposes compared to conventional lemonade?"
⚠️ Lower pH = More acidic = More pink when mixed!
Anthocyanins remain in their neutral quinoidal base form, appearing blue.
pH Scale: Measures hydrogen ion concentration from 0 (very acidic) to 14 (very basic)
How it works: Your blue lemonade starts in a basic state. When you add acidic solute, it shifts toward pink!
Anthocyanins are flavonoid pigments that change structure based on pH:
Plant Pigments: Anthocyanins are responsible for red, purple, and blue colors in many fruits and flowers
Molecular Flux: In biological systems, anthocyanins move across cell membranes and accumulate in vacuoles where pH determines their color
Diffusion: The movement of particles from high to low concentration
Flux (Φ): Rate of particle flow through a surface
Fick's First Law:
Φ = -D × (dC/dx)
where D is diffusion coefficient and dC/dx is concentration gradient
In the simulation, when you add the activator shot, acid molecules diffuse through the liquid, creating a concentration gradient that drives the color change outward from the point of addition.
State Machine: The simulation uses a finite state machine to model color changes
Input: Solute pH, Solvent pH, acid type
Process: Calculate final pH and evaluate state based on thresholds
Output: Color value and visual representation
This demonstrates how scientific systems can be modeled computationally using conditional logic and state transitions.
In a full implementation, this feature would allow multiple users to join the same virtual experiment and control different parameters collaboratively in real-time.
User 1
Controls: Solute pH Level
User 2
Controls: Solvent pH Level
User 3
Controls: Acid Type
| Time | Solute pH | Solvent pH | Final pH | Acid Type | Resulting Color | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No experiments recorded yet. Run some simulations! | ||||||