Chemistry of Food and Cooking "Gateau De Pomme D' api" |
Project Questions |
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In what ways are cooking and doing science similar and in what ways are they different? How are a cook and a food scientist similar or different?
Cooking and doing science are very similar because in a way cooking is a lab experiment. You first read the instructions of the experiment or the recipe. Next, you gather the ingredients (reactants). Mix the ingredients following the recipe or directions. Apply heat and create a cake or a solution (product). Both require a certain amount or the reaction fails. Being a cook and a food scientist are different because the cook cooks to create a delicious product, but a scientist is doing it to experiment and discover new learning. Both cook and scientist are similar because they follow directions and they both create a product our of reactants. |
How does Cooking transform food?
Cooking means to apply heat to food and heating food does more then just making it warmer. It changes the food in multiple ways too. The Proteins in food become firmer. For example an egg goes from liquid to hard when it is boiled. Meat becomes tougher when cooked longer. Cooking causes proteins to lose moisture by evaporating in the form of steam. This loss of moisture causes protein rich food to shrink. For examples, burgers shrink when cooked. Sugars are also transformed by heating. They turn brown and caramelize. Starches tend to act like sponges, soaking up the water and expanding in size, like when cooking noodles. Fats start to smoke when they get too hot. In the Gateau de Pomme d'Api, the cake rises because the baking powder contains sodium hydrogen carbonate which breaks down when heated and then releases carbon dioxide which makes the cake rise. Caramelization is the oxidation of sugar- the removal of water (as steam) and the break down of sugar. |
Think Before You Drink: Water Quality in the Animas Watershed
I have learned a lot about ions and health during this project and exhibition. My group and I worked on a project researching the pros and cons of sports drinks and when you should drink sports drinks if needed. The point of sports drinks is to re-hydrate you during or after you work out. I never really understood the meaning of hydration until this project. For example there are not just water is necessary for hydration but also the concentration of sodium and potassium that control the fluid balance between the cells and its extracellular fluid. Another take away from this project would be how I learned about three different types of solutions that can occur in the body based on solute concentration. These solutions are known as isotonic, hypertonic, and hypotonic. Isotonic is where the solution has the same concentration both in and out of the cell, and hypotonic being less solutes concentration in the cell than out. Finally hypertonic which is the more solutes concentration in the cell then out. After a bunch of research I came to the conclusion that an average person will not need extra electrolytes from sports drinks to function at their best.
The exhibition was very cool to see all these people and parents so interested in other people project as well as what they had to say was neat. One thing that did surprise me during the exhibition was the game we had set up for the audience. We set out a piece of paper which different stacks of sugar cubes that all equaled different quantities except for two. The goal was to match these multiple drinks such as Arizona tea, Monster, Coconut Milk, Coke, Snapple, Powerade, and Gatorade, to the right stack of sugar cubes. What amazed me the most was that a lot of the audience that played our game thought that Monster and Snapple had more sugar then Coke. It amazed me because coke is loaded with sugar and to see that a lot of people were not aware of what there putting into there bodies. I would say a new skill I learned was to communication. Usually in projects like so, groups tend to get side tracked and not communicate with one another. For example, you'd get some work done then the weekend comes and everyone stays outta touch until school again which with big projects this can be a problem with keeping on track. But on this project I felt as if my group and I had great communication and end up not getting to rushed before exhibition. I would say that water quality is important to study in Chemistry because of how if the PH is to high or anything really to be wrong with the water is bad because that's what humans use on the daily basis. |
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