Did you know that there are iron chunks in Cheerios?
Yes, its true!! Whenever you eat Cheerios (or any other breakfast cereal for that matter) you are consuming small bits of elemental iron (labeled as "reduced iron" in the ingredients table). This is the way cereal companies provide you with your "percent daily value" of iron. Now, I'm sure there are those of you who don't believe me, so I will provide you with a simple experiment to show you the truth:
- First, grind a bunch of cheerios up in a blender with water (the runnier the mixture the easier this is.) Pour the mixture into a glass container.
- Second, place a magnet in the mixture and allow it to spin around for about 15 to 30 minutes. (Placing the container on a magnet stirrer is quite helpful for this step)
- Finally, pull the magnet out of the mixture and low and behold!! You will see little fragments of iron sticking to the magnet! You can see them very well on a white plastic coated magnet, but in the case you don't, you can wipe the magnet with a tissue or paper towel and you will see the iron fillings on the tissue.
Pretty interesting, huh?