Is the iron inside your common breakfast cereal tangible?

If you take a spoon covered in Clingfilm wrap with a magnet attached and stir crushed cornflakes with the spoon, then there will be visible iron fillings on the spoon.

MATERIALS: Wooden spoon, bowl(s), scale (in grams), Clingfilm wrap, cereal (iron fortified), small magnet. 1. Pour the cereal into the bowl. 2. Crunch up the cereal. 3. Attach magnet to spoon and cover spoon in Clingfilm. 4. Mix cereal with the wooden spoon. 5. Wash the spoon but DO NOT wipe. RESULT: Iron fillings should be visible on the spoon.

 Iron is used to transport oxygen to cells.  If your body doesn’t receive enough iron, you will develop iron deficiency anemia. Symptoms include fatigue and high risk of infection.  If too much iron is consumed, you may experience nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and in severe cases, death.

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 When Total cereal was used, no iron fillings were visible on the spoon.  When Multi-Grain Cheerios were used, no iron fillings were visible on the spoon.* *Both cereals had the same amount of iron but a stronger magnet was used when testing the Multi-Grain Cheerios.

 Our hypothesis was incorrect because no iron fillings were visible on the spoon.  It is possible that the magnet we used in the experiment was not powerful enough to collect the small iron fillings in the crushed cereal.  The cereal may not have been crushed enough.  The iron may not have been magnetic.  The iron may not have been concentrated enough to become tangible.

 We will test more varieties of cereal and use stronger magnets to get better results and more differing results.