How to use the Brix Meter and the steps to follow
The use of sugar meter and operating procedures I. Purpose and principle of the use of hand-held refractometer to determine the total soluble solids in fruits and vegetables (TotalSolubleSolid, TSS) content, can be roughly expressed in fruits and vegetables sugar content. Light from a medium into another medium will produce refraction phenomenon, and the sine of the angle of incidence ratio is constant for a fixed value, this ratio is called the refractive index. Fruit and vegetable juice in the soluble solids content and refractive index under certain conditions (the same temperature, pressure) is proportional, so the determination of fruit and vegetable juice refractive index, can be derived from the concentration of fruit and vegetable juice (the amount of sugar). Commonly used instruments are hand-held refractometer, also known as sugar mirror, hand-held sugar meter, the construction of the instrument is shown in the figure below. By determining the soluble solids content (sugar content) of fruits and vegetables, the quality of fruits and vegetables can be understood, and the ripeness of fruits can be estimated approximately. II. DRUGS AND EQUIPMENT Tomato, orange, pineapple, distilled water, beaker, burette, rolling paper, hand-held refractometer III. OPERATING PROCEDURES Open the cover of the hand-held refractometer (a), and carefully dry the prism glass surface with a clean gauze or rolling paper. Put 2 drops of distilled water on the prism glass and close the cover. In a horizontal state, observe from the eyelet (b) and check whether the line between light and dark in the field of view is on the zero line of the scale. If it does not coincide with the zero line, rotate the scale adjusting screw so that the dividing line just falls on the zero line. Open the cover, use gauze or rolled paper to dry the water, and then as above method in the prism glass surface 2 drops of fruit and vegetable juice, observation, read the field of view of the scale on the line between dark and light, that is, the fruit and vegetable juice in the content of soluble solids (%) (the approximate content of sugar). Repeat three times.
