Food science experiments can teach us a lot!

Have your parents ever to play with food. Food science experiments let you do that with your parents blessing.But of course we will learn something as well. So...

...let's play with our food!

Time - Give yourself about three to four weeks to do this one.

Stuff List

You'll need...

1. Six of two types of fruit (e.g. six bananas and six apples)
2. Fridge (between 32 and 40 degrees)
3. Basement or other cool place (between 40 and 60 degrees)
4. Room (between 60 and 80 degrees)
5. Twelve lunch size brown bags
6. Thermometer
7. Graph paper
8. Camera
9. Cardboard for display (three sided)
10. Glue
11. Paper
12. Computer (optional)

Preparation

It's always important to ask questions. In food science experiments it's important too. We'll use fruit for this one. So...

...let's ask some questions about fruit.

Here are some important questions to get you started. These aren't the most important questions, though. We'll ask that one later.

See if you can add to this list for food science experiments.

What's your favorite type of fruit?
Where do you keep fruit?
Where do stores keep fruit?

Try to answer these as best you can.

Now...

We ask the most important question...

Where is fruit best kept?

This is a good question because we can try it out in a sink or pan of water to see what happens. But don't try it yet. We need to answer our important question first!

Let's do that now.

What do you think the answer is to your important question?

Write it down on a piece of paper. Don't change it until you see what the fruit does first. We call this guess our hypothesis.

Now it's time to get the stuff from the list above. Let's move to the next step.

Project

Now comes the fun part...

...let's experiment! Place each piece of fruit in a separate paper lunch bag.

Be careful. If you drop it or mistreat the fruit it will bruise! Place two bags of each type of fruit (remember you have two different types) in these places...

1. A fridge
2. A basement or other cool place
3. A room in your house

As we said, handle the fruit gently. Mishandling the fruit might ruin the project.

Here's how it should look...

Don't forget to take pictures of this step.

Now, check the fruit every day. Make sure you pay attention to what happens to each piece of fruit in every bag each day. Write down what you see happening on a chart something like this...

Don't forget to take lots of pictures of your fruit everyday. Pictures show you did your own work.

It's important to check your fruit everyday. Don't forget! The experiment won't work right if you don't pay attention to what's happening.

Make sure you keep your chart. You'll need it for the next step.

Paper

Alright...

...it's time to make the graph!

Take your graph paper and put "day one", "day two", "day three" and so on down the side. How ever many days you checked the fruit, put that many days down the side. Now write the different places you put the fruit at the bottom. You'll need two graphs, one for each kind of fruit.

Fill them in with the information you put on your chart. They should look something like this...

It's time to tell what you've noticed. Write a report about what you noticed.

You should include...

1. What you guessed about the fruit.
2. What you did with the fruit.
3. Which bag of fruit lasted the longest/least amount of time.
4. If your guess was correct about the fruit.

Be careful to obey all the school rules for your science fair report. Three or four sentences will do if you weren't given how long it should be.

Presentation

Now you get to make the display!

Carefully put three pieces of cardboard together so it looks like this...

If you want more information about displays for food science experiments click here.

You can also buy displays at many retail stores that may fit food science experiments. However you do it, make sure you follow science fair rules!

Now, on a piece of paper neatly write your important question and your guess. If you would like, type it. You might get style points!

Now, just like you did your important question, write (or type) your supply list on a separate piece of paper.

Paste your guess, supply list and report onto your display board along with any pictures you might have taken. Make sure you label each so the judges know what is what. Making sure everything looks good is important!

If you want to get some ideas for your display we have some examples for you. Just click here for examples of experiment displays and other science fair helps.

Try playing with some of the display ideas you see. Some will make great displays for food science experiments. Others may not. You don't have to use the exact ones we use. Make them fun! Be creative!

And don't forget to name your project at the top of the display board. You may want to use your important question as the title. You may want to purchase stencils to make cutouts of letters. Or you may purchase already made letters at many retail stores.

Whatever you do, have fun with food science experiments!

Finished with food science experiments? Click here to see more projects!

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