Eating Nails for Breakfast Is there iron in that big bowl of cereal? email to friend
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The next time you're eating a big bowl of breakfast cereal, take a closer look at the ingredients. You'll find that your cereal contains more than just wheat and corn. Look closely and you might find iron... you know, the metal... the stuff used to make nails. Here's an experiment to see if there really is metallic iron in your breakfast cereal.

Materials

Box of iron-fortified breakfast cereal (Total works the best)
Measuring cup
Super strong magnet
Quart size zipper-lock bag
Water
Dinner plate

Note: Magnets come in all shapes, sizes, and strengths. Ask at your local hardware store for a strong magnet for a science experiment. The strongest magnets in the world are called Neodymium magnets or "rare-earth" magnets. They are 10 times stronger than standard ceramic magnets and are commonly used in speakers and computer disc drives. It is possible to pull iron out of cereal using a standard magnet, but you'll get much better reuslts using a Neodymium magnet. Neodymium magnets are available through Steve Spangler Science (click on the link above).

You can also purchase the Eating Nails for Breakfast Kit.

Experiment
Video
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Eating Nails for Breakfast

Open the box of cereal and pour a small pile of flakes on the plate. Crush them into tiny pieces with your fingers. Spread out the pile so it forms a single layer of crumbs on the plate. Bring the magnet close to the layer of crumbs (but don't touch any) and see if you can get any of the pieces to move. Take your time. If you get a piece to move without touching it, that piece may contain some metallic iron.
Firmly press the magnet directly onto the crumbs but don't move it. Lift it up and look underneath to see if anything is clinging to the magnet. Several little pieces may be stuck there. Is it the magnet being attracted to static electricity or just sticky cereal? It could be the iron. Throw away the small pile of cereal and clean off the magnet .
Pour water into the plate and float a few flakes on the surface. Hold the magnet close to (but not touching) a flake, and see if the flake moves toward the magnet. (The movement may be very slight, so be patient.) With practice, you can pull the flakes across the water, spin them, and even link them together in a chain. Hmmm... there must be something that's responding to the magnet. Could it be metallic iron? In your cereal?
Measure 1 cup of cereal (that's equal to one serving according to the information on the side of the cereal box) into a quart size zipper-lock bag. Fill the bag half full with water. Carefully seal the bag, leaving an air pocket inside.
Mix the cereal and the water by squeezing and smooshing the bag until the contents become a brown, soupy mixture. This may take a long time. In fact, you may want to let it sit for an hour so the cereal softens completely. Warm water will speed up the process. Don't move on to the next step until the cereal is completely dissolved!
Make sure the bag is tightly sealed and position it on a flat side in the palm of your hand. Place the super-strong magnet on top of the bag. Put your other hand on top of the magnet and flip the whole thing over so the magnet is underneath the bag. Slowly slosh the contents of the bag in a circular motion for 15 or 20 seconds. The idea is to attract any free moving bits of metallic iron in the cereal to the magnet.
Use both hands again and flip the bag and magnet over so the magnet is on top. Gently squeeze the bag to lift the magnet a little above the cereal soup. Don't move the magnet just yet. Look closely at the edges of the magnet where it's touching the bag. You should be able to see tiny black specks on the inside of the bag around the edges of the magnet. That's the iron!
Keep one end of the magnet touching the bag and draw little circles. As you do, the iron will gather into a bigger clump and be much easier to see. Few people have ever noticed iron in their food, so you can really impress your friends with this one. When you're finished, simply pour the soup down the drain and rinse the bag. Think you could find the iron in other fortified cereals? Go for it!

How does it work?

Many breakfast cereals are fortified with food-grade iron particles (metallic iron) as a mineral supplement. Total® cereal is the only major brand of cereal that claims to contain 100% of your recommended daily allowance of iron. The chemical symbol for iron is Fe. Metallic iron is digested in the stomach and eventually absorbed in the small intestine. If all of the iron from your body was extracted, you'd have enough iron to make only two small nails. However, there is a growing number of nutritionists who do not buy these claims and believe that the metallic iron simply passes through your system. Sounds like some great research for a science fair project!

Iron is found in a very important component of your blood called hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the compound in red blood cells that carries oxygen from your lungs so that it can be utilized by your body. It's the iron in hemoglobin that gives blood its red appearance.

A diet deficient in iron can result in fatigue, reduced resistance to diseases, and increased heart and respiratory rates. Food scientists say that a healthy adult requires about 18 mg of iron each day. So, as you can see, iron is a very important part of what you and your friends and family need to stay healthy. Eat up! Cereal for dinner!