23: risks

last minute risk assessment/ brainstorm.

GLASSWARE: the test tubes are obviously glassware. if they break, that's obviously dangerous.
SPILLAGE: the milk could accidentally spilled. no use crying over spilt milk though. spillage could cause slippery surface on floor. & if left uncleaned it'll turn foul.

can't really think of much else.

srp is almost over. :D

22: how sad

i will not be handing my report in today which i find so depressing. i hope there won't be a long line tomorrow. i also hope i finish today or i'll die of stress. sobs. anyways, good luck my fellow last-minute workers. you can do it. :)

21: results cont.

for some stupid reason, when you click on the pics on my last post, they won't open to a new window & i cbb figuring it out now, so you'll just have to squint. the following graph is just the last two graphs combined into one whole graph. i won't be putting this in my report because it's confusing and the key/ legend isn't right.

21: results

okay, so after many painful hours of flicking through photos of milk, i've finally tabulated all my measurements. you probably won't look through them because i know i wouldn't be bothered either, but we're suppose to post our raw data so yeah...here it is:

skim milk results table:

low fat milk results table:

reduced fat milk results table:
whole milk results table:

evaporated milk results table:

average results table one:

average results table two:

line graphs of the two average tables:

there's another graph that's humongous so i'll put it in a separate post. i'll put photos up as soon as possible. sighs. so much stuff to do. still gotta talk about the risks of the experiment. i'll get to it all. eventually. sighs. gonna fail science this year.

20: note to self

omg, so much stuff to do. here's a list of what i need to do (mostly for my own benefit):
-SRP booklet
-SRP report

for the report:
-fill in cover sheet & crest award sheet
-come up with report name
-write intro (do research, find books)
-cite the intro
-write method
-analyse results
-type the results
-do the discussion
-write an awesome conclusion
-do the reference
-possibly acknowledgements and/or appendix
-format the whole report
-finish all this by tuesday

gosh gosh, so much to do. :(

once again, good luck to everyone. i believe in you. :) you can do it!

19: la la la~

no creative title this time. my brain is not working creatively. =_="

okay, so another dilemma (not really). to get through all my trials, i did three trials at one time rather than one by one like my method says. i was wondering (again) whether i need to actually put this in the method (the doing three trials at one time thing) or do i just leave my method as it is (& put it into paragraphs). hmm...i guess i'll just ask ms zhang today, assuming that we have a ms zhang lesson & not some sub.
ANOTHER dilemma (a real one this time). i swear that people don't like milk enough to publish books about it. specifically foaming milk. i'll try looking into books about coffee and stuff, but it'll probably just come up with the different types of coffee (flavours & beans) rather than making it (& thus talking about foaming milk). i guess i should also look into foam and why the fat in milk changes the foam that is produced when the milk is shaken. is this relevant? i have no idea. but i need BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS. if only i could publish my own & just use that instead. it would be a really terrible book though, but back on topic now. libby used some books from google books, so i'll guess i'll see if they have any relevant books. hurstville library also has a pretty big non fiction books section, so i'll see if they have any books. the thing is though, i have no idea what keywords i should be using to look for these books. how frustrating. T_T

once again, good luck to everyone & i hope you all finish on time. don't forget about the rotation test. sighs. everything's on the 17th june, even my sister's birthday. i hate year 10 (i don't but i do, you know?). T_T

18: finished!

no, i have not finished my report, although i do wish that i miraculously had... i have finished doing my experiment and O-M-G it was horrible. instead of taking 30 minutes for every three trials (or for each test liquid per day), i ended up taking 40 minutes to one hour for each test liquid and it was a PAIN in the bum. it's over now though, just gotta do the report. what joy. T_T

anyways, the good news is that my research was somewhat accurate with whole milk producing a foam that was relatively okay in terms of volume (do not ask me what that means. you may not know, but i know exactly what i mean. ^^) and definitely did not last long.
i need to get my measurements for the test liquids into tables and i've taken heaps and heaps of photos, so i need to sift through them all. there's over 1000 photos, so that will take time. i took heaps of photos of the trials, but i totally forgot to take photos of my equipment & test liquids. my mum threw out the cartons before i remembered to take pictures, but oh well.
i also wanted to mention that the reduced cream did not work out so i've ditched that, as well as the cream because i had a mini epiphany and realised that my aim was to investigate which types of MILK produce a good foam with high volume and longevity. and cream is technically not milk. it's the fat part of the milk they remove from milk to make skim milk. so yeah.... i did do six trials of cream though, and the first three trials, i swear, almost turned to whipped cream.
i'll try get pictures up as soon as possible, although i'm more concerned about my report at the moment. however, we need to put the raw data up (i think) so i'll try get it on soon. i won't post all 1000+ photos on for obvious reasons (such as i can't be bothered & other people probably wouldn't be bothered looking through them), so i'll select a few to post.
i wanted to ask, do we need a risk assessment? it's not a sub heading, so i wasn't sure if we needed one...
i know results are going to be dodge because there is so much human error involved (much more than i expected), but thank gosh i did fifteen trials for each test liquid. some of the results were REALLY sus. oh well, let's just hope it turns out fine.
i think that's all i really have to say for now...

GOOD LUCK to everyone. & to those people who i know that have only just started doing their experiment, i wish you EXTRA GOOD LUCK. updates on my report & results soon. :)

17: ready, set, GO

just wanted to say that i've (finally) started my experiment. i did a few trials and thought they didn't really out, so i decided to restart it. thank gosh i did, because i've planned everything really well (i think).
i made a few more changes again. i've switched the 30mL of test liquid for each trial back to one tablespoon (or 20mL) because when i first put in 30mL into a test tube, it filled more than half the test tube.
also, i found evaporated milk at woolies and the fat content of it was around 8-9 %. it wasn't 20% like stated in the last post because it was actually 20% milk solids and if you've been paying attention, milk solids are actually the fat and protein added together. the "skim" evaporated milk had a fat content of 1.5% i think, but that's the same as low fat milk so i didn't but it. HOWEVER, i found some cans of reduced cream and they had of a fat content of 20-something, so i'll be seeing if they could be used instead.
every 3 trials takes about 30 minutes to do and i have to take pictures every minute. it's so annoying and my back is dying since i'm sitting on this tiny stool. it'll take me probably a bit more than 3.5 hours to do three trials for each test liquid.
i need to continue with my experiment now, so i'll post my results and pictures VERY SOON i hope. good luck to everyone! don't leave it to the last minute. :)

16: alterations

just wanted to confirm my test liquids and make some alterations to the method.
the test liquids will be (listed in order of fat content):
-skim milk (<0.15%)
-low fat milk (<1.5%)
-reduced fat milk (approx. 2.0%)
-whole milk (approx. 3.8%)
-skim evaporated milk (20%, maybe)
-evaporated milk (28%)
-cream (48%*)

*- cream contains 48% milk fat at its natural state (which i have no idea what that is), but it is basically the fat component of milk.

i'll be changing the amount milk used in each trial from one tablespoon to one and a half tablespoons or 30mL. also, instead of shaking each trial for 40 seconds, i've changed it so each trial will be shaken for 30 seconds.

15: milk milk milk two

haven't been posting much...too much homework/ tests and procrastinating. TT"

i've been researching a bit more on foaming milk and etc. milk is commonly foamed or frothed as an addition to certain coffees and beverages.
the process used to froth milk for use in coffee is different to my method for this experiment. to froth milk, a "steam wand" forces steam into the milk and forms tiny bubbles. the milk is heated during the process and the heat can affect how well milk foams.
when you steam milk (which is what frothing milk with steam is called), the proteins in the milk is the most important element in creating the tiny bubbles of air.

When you are steaming milk you are incorporating air into the milk. Proteins are
important because they are adsorbed* by the thin film surrounding an air bubble
giving stability to the entrapped air.

*adsorb: to gather (a gas, liquid or dissolved substance) on a surface in a condensed layer [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/adsorb]

the stability of milk foam can vary depending on the milk's fat content. at around 5% (including whole milk), foam stability is at its lowest, meaning that as the fat content increases or decreases from 5% the foam becomes more stable.
foam volume is similar to foam stability as it is at its lowest when milk contains around 5% fat (including whole milk). skim milk supposedly has the greatest potential to produce a high volume and stable foam since it contains hardly any fat. as the fat content of milk increases from around 5%, the milk's ability to produce a foam with high volume and stability also increases.
because these observations are based on steaming milk, i am not sure whether they still apply to just shaking small quantities of milk vigorously for a short period of time. in theory, whole milk is the worst choice for producing a foam with a large volume.
it is said that low fat milk takes on the most air at lower temperatures, but this also applies to whole milk and cream (although "to a lesser extent"). however, all milk, no matter of its fat content, produces the greater volume of foam at cooler temperatures (when compared to the foam production at higher temperatures). milk at room temperature also does not foam well (and it'll probably have gone off by then). therefore, cold milk (preferably straight out of the fridge) presumably gives the best foam.
[http://coffeegeek.com/guides/frothingguide/milk] <--really awesome source [http://coffeeinfo.wordpress.com/foaming-milk-without-steam/]

the coffeegeek website above also details two different types of protein found in milk that contribute to the formation of the bubbles in the foam of milk. i will probably discuss this later on, mainly for the research and to publish more posts. as most of the research from above has come mainly from the one website, i'll need to look for more sources to verify that the information i have above is accurate. :)

i also wanted to say that i've almost finished making my totally awesome test tube rack, using scrap pieces of cardboard, my chocolate crunchie box and the lid of a shoebox. just need to finish off the base.
i hope to start my experiment VERY VERY soon, since the report is due in 3 weeks (how depressing). the experiment will hopefully take no longer than a week because i'll probably need 2 weeks to analyse my results and perfect my science report.

14: method

aim:
to investigate which types of milk (based on their fat content) produce a good foam with high volume and longevity.

hypothesis:
more research is needed.

materials:
-safety goggles
-test tubes with rim 25mm X 150mm
-rubber stoppers without holes
-test tube rack
-measuring spoons
-300mL (approx.) of each test liquid (the different milks mentioned in the previous post)
-stopwatch
-metric ruler
-magnifying glass (optional)
-camera (optional)

method: (for one day)
1) Measure out one tablespoon of one of the test liquids.
2) Put on safety goggles.
3) Pour the measured test liquid into a test tube and insert the rubber stopper so it is tight.
4) Hold the test tube vertically and mark the starting level of the liquid (the level of the top of the liquid).
5) Have a stopwatch ready at hand. When you begin to shake the test tube, start the stopwatch immediately.
6) Shake the test tube vigorously for 40 seconds.
7) Stop shaking at the 40 second mark and reset the stopwatch.
8) Hold the test tube vertically and make marks at the surface of the liquid and at the top of the foam.
9)* Measure and tabulate the distance between the starting level and the top of the foam.
10)* Measure and tabulate the distance between the starting level and the surface of the liquid.
11) Place the test tube in a test tube rack. A magnifying glass may be used to observe the size and uniformity of the foam's bubbles. Record observations and take photos if desired.

]12) At each time increment (later explained), repeat steps 9 to 11 until the trial is over (when there is no foam or when 30 minutes has passed).
13) Repeat steps 1 to 12 two times (there will be fifteen trials in total).
14) Repeat steps 1 to 13 for each type of milk.

*- use a table similar to the one shown in the post '08: approved experiment'

NOTE: this experiment will most likely be completed over five separate days and there will be fifteen trials in total for each type of milk. that is why the method only states to repeat the experiment twice for each type of milk as the method is for a single day.

13: milk milk milk one

i'm going to be starting some research on milk (from cows) to see if using different milks for my test liquids is a good idea.

milk is an opaque white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. milk for human consumption often comes from cattle, sheep and goats. cow's milk is the most commonly consumed form of milk & is often processed into other dairy products such as cheese, cream, butter, yoghurt and ice cream. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk]
milk for consumption often goes through different processes before going on sale on supermarket shelves, such as pasteurisation and homogenisation.
pasteurisation is the process used to partially sterilise milk, resulting in extended shelf life. milk is heated to 72°C for at least 15 seconds and then cooled immediately. this destroys any harmful bacteria and micro-organisms.
homogenisation is a process used to prevent the cream in milk separating and rising to the surface. the process consists of passing the milk (under pressure) through very fine nozzles, allowing the fat globules to evenly disperse throughout the milk and thus creating a smooth, creamy texture and taste. [http://www.dairyaustralia.com.au/Products-and-Recipes/Dairy-Products/Milk.aspx]
milk can be separated into groups depending on what and how much of something it contains, such as fat.
regular or whole milk is milk that (usually) has nothing added or removed. it contains on average 3.8% fat and no less than 3.2%. this type of milk is both pasteurised and homogenised and has a rich creamy texture.
reduced fat milk has approximately 2% milk fat and could have added protein and calcium.
low fat milk has less than 1.5% milk fat and usually extra calcium added.
skim milk has less than 0.15% milk fat with extra milk solids added for taste. it has a more watery appearance compared to other milks and a less creamy taste.
evaporated of unsweetened condensed milk is a type of concentrated milk. the total number of milk solids is increased to 28% by the gentle evaporation of water. the milk is sterilized after being canned to eliminate harmful micro-organisms and to ensure a long shelf life. skim evaporated milk contains around 20% milk solids.
powdered milk is "an evaporated pasteurised milk concentrate, containing about 40% milk solids". it is dried to reduce the moisture content to about 3%.
[http://www.dairyaustralia.com.au/Products-and-Recipes/Dairy-Products/Milk/Types-of-Milk.aspx#]
[http://www.milk.co.uk/page.aspx?intPageID=43]
cream is the fat component of milk and contains around 48% milk fat in its natural state. it is the removed component of milk to make skim milk.
[http://www.dairyaustralia.com.au/Products-and-Recipes/Dairy-Products/Cream.aspx]

okay, i think that's enough research for now...as you can see, for all of these types of milk (& including the cream), i've mentioned the substances fat content. i'm hoping to use this to form my hypothesis. so far, i reckon that one of the thicker liquids such as evaporated milk might produce the best foam, based on the foam's volume and longevity. this still needs more research though, so i'll see. i'm not sure if i'll include the cream as a test liquid because it's not technically milk.
by the way, milk fat is "the fatty portion of milk" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfat] and milk solids are "combined yield of fat and protein in the milk" [http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Milk+solids]. i'm hoping that knowing amount of milk solids instead of milk fat in some of the substances might not affect the order of least to most amount of fat content...i might ask ms zhang...

i'll hopefully start my experiment VERY soon, hopefully before week 6. good luck to everybody starting their experiment. :)

12: woohoo!

so, i got my test tubes & stoppers today from the post office. :D i thought i was going to get them yesterday, but they hadn't delivered the card thingy yet. i checked today & was really disappointed to not see it, but then i looked up to the roof of the mailbox and there was the card dangling from a crack. it turned out that they did come by yesterday, but the card was stuck in the crack so i couldn't see it. anyways, i was super excited & took some pictures, even though i haven't technically started my experiment yet. :D

they wrapped each test tube in their own sheets of paper, so the rolls of paper below are actually test tubes. :D just to remind you all, i ordered 7 test tubes and 8 stoppers. for some reason, one of the stoppers is bright red-ish while the others are a dull pinky-red. the actual container didn't come with it; it's just the container i'm currently storing them in.

here's a closer look:

if i had a test tube rack, i would've taken pictures of the tubes in the rack, but i don't have one so i couldn't.

i'll be starting my experiment as soon as a i figure out what my test liquids will be & after i've made my test tube rack. here's some of my thoughts on the test liquids.

okay, so the original experiment from the website had water, milk, egg and diluted detergent as test liquids. i wondered why they choose these as their test liquids and why not soft drink or something similar. my theory for this is that they've chosen foods/liquids that are natural (besides the detergent). other than that, i don't really know why.

i also don't really have a hypothesis and the aim is a bit unclear. i'm thinking about having different types of milk instead of the test liquids listed above to see if the type of milk affects the foam. i haven't really done any research, so i have no idea if the foams will be different. if i do end up using different types of milk, i could use whole (fat) milk, skim/ low fat milk, soy milk, rice milk. this still doesn't give me a specific hypothesis...so i'll probably just use the original test liquids. this was more of a thought. :)

i won't make my final decision until i've done more research, however, so nothing is really finalised yet. heaps of things are due in the next few weeks so hopefully i'll get my experiment done before week 9, which is when our final blog submission and something else is due.

good luck everyone. :D

11: tubes & stoppers

just wanted to say that i ordered my test tubes and rubber stoppers on wednesday (although technically thursday since it was 1:30AM) and should hopefully receive them in the next few days. i didn't get them today (monday) because it was a public holiday. i'm excited because this is the first time i've ordered stuff online. XD anyways...
hopefully we have our first SRP/ ms zhang lesson this week. we've missed out on the last two, so hopefully it's third time lucky. :D

hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend. i, typically, did hardly any homework and am angry at myself for the latter...but hey, i posted on my blog. :)

climate graph

okay, i've managed to procrastinate from other homework and instead do my climate graph. & since this post isn't really for my SRP experiment, this post is numberless. :D

by the way, you actually can use just excel to complete the climate graph. although, i did use the help to find this out. i hope you like it~ (whoever "you" is).

to all people, masterchef is starting TONIGHT. so excited. :)

10: back to school

i was hoping to blog more during the holidays...but here we are just the day before school with only 2 (including this one) blogs posted in the actual holidays. oh wells...

i have good news concerning my hunt for equipment. XD i actually found this quite some time ago, like a week maybe, but following traditional holiday behaviour, i was too lazy. this website:
http://www.wiltronics.com.au/
is so totally awesome. you can get anything (that i need for my experiment). the p&h fees are however, still around $10 and you need to make a minimum purchase of $10...but i figured out that if i buy 7 test tubes and 8 stoppers (in case i lose one) plus the p&h fees, i'm a few cents below $20. however, i think i might make my own rack since their one is somewhat expensive considering my "budget". thank you vida (key diva?) and ms zhang for recommending places. :D i'll try wiltronics first though.
i'm also trying to figure out how long it'll take them to deliver it because i want to try receive it when we have next monday off so i don't have to go to the post office. most things arrive within 3-5 working days from my past (reading) experiences, so i might order them on wednesday. hopefully none of them come broken or anything & i'll be real pissed if they are or if i get the wrong ones. despite this, i was EXTREMELY happy when i found this site after tedious hours (in my mind) of staring at & scrolling through google search result pages.
i'll post my climate graph sometime this week hopefully. & i just want to remind 10S1 to do your acid rain presentations...
i also wanted to say that i WILL be (hopefully) dedicating a blog to my test liquids sometime soon. i'll discuss what liquids i'll be using, some reasearch maybe, possibly why i'll use them and some other stuff. i need to talk about how long they will be shaken and all those other details too, so i might do that in the same blog or a separate one if i'm bothered...

YAY. school tomorrow. T_T

09: equipment dilemma

for my experiment i'll be needing:
-test tubes with rim 25mm X 150mm
-rubber stoppers without holes
-test tube rack
-safety goggles
-measuring utensils (e.g. spoons, cups, etc.)
-test liquids (i'll dedicate a whole blog to this later on if i'm bothered)
-bowls (?)
-stopwatch
-metric ruler
-magnifying glass
-laptop to record results
-camera to take heaps of photos

i don't HAVE to use test tubes to conduct my experiment, but it would be totally awesome if i did, but then i have the dilemma of finding some and the stoppers and the rack. some websites that do supply them are:
http://www.hometrainingtools.com/
http://www.ebay.com.au/
http://www.amazon.com/

most of them have a postage and handling fee of around $10.00 so i would really like to find maybe a specialty store in sydney somewhere so i can just go and buy some. i'll ask ms zhang soon, but if any of you science nerds know where to buy cheap but good quality (hopefully borosilicate or maybe pyrex) test tubes, stoppers and a test tube rack, i would appreciate it muchly if you told me. :D
i'll probably use (maybe) one test tube per test liquid, so say i had 5 test liquids then i would have 5 test tubes. like in my previous blog (08: approved experiment), i said i wanted to do one trial of each liquid per day so i should hopefully have enough test tubes...
if i discover that test tubes are just too hard to find, i'll try find containers that are as similar as possible to a test tube. for the test tube rack (assuming i'll be using test tubes), i might try make one if i have the time and material. if not, then it only costs about $7 or $8 on the net, but you would have to add postage and handling fees so it's a bit expensive.
i forgot to say that i found THE perfect test tubes with stoppers included in a pack of 12 on amazon.com. unfortunately, like all things too good to be true, it doesn't ship to australia so that was an absolute bummer for me...the price plus the P&H fees was, however, $25 in total, but considering the other prices around, it's an okay price.
i'm trying to limit myself to $20 maximum for the tubes, stoppers and rack but i think i'll be forking out more than my budget...so wish me luck. :D

08: approved experiment

so most of us got o ur marking sheet back yesterday and discovered that our experiments were approved, mine included. congrats to everyone who did get their ones approved and have fun and good luck conducting your experiments. remember, safety first!
okay, this blog is appearing much later than i wanted it to but since i'm absolutely unorganised when it comes to schoolwork, i've been pretty busy/ lazy. this should be blog 10, but i guess blog 08 will have to do. back to the experiment. (i won't be elaborating any more on the m&m's experiment since my foam one has been approved but i might still look for new ideas in case this one doesn't work out.)


"which foods produce a good foam with high volume and longevity?"
the method is as follows:
1) Measure out one tablespoon of one of the test liquids.
2) Put on safety goggles.
3) Pour the test liquid into one of the test tubes and place on the rubber stopper so it is tight.
4) Hold the test tube vertically and mark the starting level of the liquid (the level of the top of the liquid).
5) Have a stopwatch ready at hand. When you begin to shake the test tube, start the stopwatch immediately.
6) Shake the test tube vigorously for 40 seconds.
7) Stop shaking at the 40 second mark and reset the stopwatch.
8) Hold the test tube vertically and make marks at the surface of the liquid and at the top of the foam.
9) Measure and record the distance between the starting level and the top of the foam.
10) Measure and record the distance between the starting level and the surface of the liquid.
11) Place the test tube in a test tube rack. A magnifying glass may be used to observe the size and uniformity of the foam's bubbles. Record observations.

12) At each time increment (later explained), repeat steps 9 and 10 until the trial is over (when there is no foam or when 30 minutes has passed).
13) Repeat steps 1 to 12 for each test liquid with the same number of trials for each test liquid.

i know this isn't the best method, so i'll be improving it later on. the results will be recorded in a table similar to this:

to test the longevity of the foam, each trial will be left untouched after being shaken. after certain time increments the distance between starting level and the top of the foam and the starting level and the surface of the liquid will be recorded.
i would like to have at least 10 trials for each test liquid, maybe even 15. i'll do the experiment over several days that have around the same temperature so that i'll know that the results won't be affected by the temperature on the day. on the days, i'll do the same number of trials for each test liquid, so maybe one trial of each test liquid is experimented with on any one day. by doing this, at least one trial of all the test liquids will be conducted in the same conditions. oh, i remember thinking about temperature being another variable for the experiment but have since decided it would be way too hard, so yeah...
the website uses test liquids such as tap water, milk, egg and diluted washing detergent. i might add or replace some test liquids that are common in everyday life. some people suggested coke and something else that i forgot...but coke sounded like a good idea. the test liquids that i am certain on so far are:
-water
-whole milk
-nonfat milk
-diluted washing detergent
i'll think about the egg because i know that egg whites are used to make meringue which consists of a lot of air. however, i don't want to have too many test liquids but not too little either.
i was totally confused over the controlled, independent and dependent variables before, but my sister patiently explained so i think i've got the gist of it now. attempt number 2 at listing variables:
CONTROLLED
-size of the test tube/ container
-amount of each liquid
-amount of time each trial is shaken for
-the strength at which the liquids are shaken at (i.e. not different shaking strengths for the trials)
-the temperature of each liquid before shaking (most likely room temperature)
-the time periods between each recording (foam longevity measurement)

INDEPENDENT
-the type of liquid

DEPENDENT
-the amount and longevity of foam

i think that's all of it, but i'll add more/ edit it later if i remember something.

07: foam&jelly

for the foam experiment, the website:
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/FoodSci_p057.shtml?fave=no&isb=c2lkOjEsaWE6Rm9vZFNjaSxwOjEscmlkOjYxNzkzMjM&from=TSW
had some terms and background research that you're suppose to look into before starting the experiment. i'm just going to type it all here so i don't forget where i put it. :D

aqueous foam:
formed when gas bubbles get trapped in a liquid and prevent the molecules in that liquid from flowing freely

carbon dioxide:
an odourless, colourless & incombustible gas present in the atmosphere formed during respiration and by the decomposition of organic substances; CO2 is a chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom

nitrous oxide:
a colourless, non-flammable, slightly water-soluble and slightly sweet-tasting gas, N2O; sometimes produces a feeling of exhilaration when inhaled and is often used as anesthetic in surgery and dentistry; sometimes known as laughing gas

density:
amount per unit size; concentration; the spatial property of being crowded together

emulsifier:
a substance that helps an emulsion*form or helps keep an emulsion from separating;
*emulsion: a mixture of two liquids which do not normally combine well (e.g. oil & water)

lecithin:
an important emulsifier found in egg yolks, but is also found in plant and animal tissues

water-soluble:
capable of dissolving in water
i'll list the liquids & whether they're soluble or insoluble later on.

water-insoluble:
inability to dissolve in water
listing later. :D

negative control:
i'm assuming this is meant to be the variables...which i'll list later (as well) since the ones from blog 06 are probably incorrect.

positive control:
read "negative control".

off the foam experiment for a while, i've been looking at other experiments just so i still have some choices. i've found an experiment that requires making different lenses from jelly and shining light through them (they called it jelly optics). it's basically investigating how the light bends or as we learnt last year, refraction. this experiment is like the foam one in regards to its simplicity, but i was thinking that different jellies could be tested instead of using the same jelly to construct all the lenses. for the jelly, i could vary the:
-colour
-density (maybe include salt or flour or something to the jelly mixture before it sets)
-the amount of water (which is more for changing the density)

for the actual lenses, it does state that you could vary the shape, but since we learnt about light last year, we know these "shapes" as biconvex and biconcave and they've also suggested semicircular lenses. i could also vary the thickness, although i'm not sure it would make much difference. the actual size of each lens, however, would definitely affect the outcome.
their aim (is it the aim?) for the experiment is to "make some simple lenses and see how they bend light" but because i want to vary the jellies and therefore vary the lenses, i think the aim (or whatever it's called) should be (but still working on) will the density, colour (thinking about taking out this variable), thickness (now changed to size) and shape of lenses constructed from jelly affect the refraction of light being shone through it or something similar.
the variables could be as follows:
CONTROLLED
-the light source
-the amount of light the lenses are exposed to
-the angle at which the light is shone (is that even a word?) at & the position of the lenses
-maybe the amount of water in the mixture so that the experiment is more controlled

-the thickness of each lens (i've decided to keep them the same)

INDEPENDENT
-the lenses (size, density, shape, etc.)

DEPENDENT
-this is suppose to relate to the results but i don't know what's being tested so...yeah...i'll think harder later. :D

note to self: the website for jelly optics is
http://www.csiro.au/resources/jelly-lens-activity.html

okay, so in my next blog (which will hopefully appear soon), i'll try to write the method of the foam experiment in more detail and discuss the variables & the types of liquids & etc. imma also try to find out more about the candy (whoo! m&m's. :D) chromatography experiment & discuss the variables of that one too if i'm bothered.

06a: question

hi, ms zhang. the actual blog submission is the one below but i wanted to ask you which experiment would be the better one and since this is more of a follow-up to the previous blog, you should read that one first.
i'm considering doing the foam or m&m's experiment but i'm afraid that both of them (only m&m's at first) are too simple.
the foam experiment is used "to determine which foods make good foams that have high volume and longevity."
on the other hand, the m&m's experiment is mainly for fun (i believe so anyway) and to explore "which dyes are used in the coatings of your favourite coloured candies."
feed back is VERY much appreciated. :D thankyou.

06: i love food

okay, so i’ve found this great website that has a super awesome list of possible food-related experiments and most of them explain how to conduct an experiment to explore the ideas. if anyone wants the link (*cough* pauline *cough*) it’s:
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/recommender_interest_area.php?ia=FoodSci&dl=9

so far the things that have caught my eyes are:
“stop slumping: what makes foams stand up straight”
tests several different liquids by shaking them up to create foam and measuring the distance between certain points.

“candy chromatography: what makes those colours?”
using candy such as m&m’s (yum. :D) or skittles, food colouring and basic chromatography methods to determine what food colours are actually used to achieve the colouring in candy.

“temper, temper, temper! the science of tempering chocolate”
no basic testing is given but research could be done to come up with an experiment.

“from bitter to sweet: how sugar content changes in ripening fruit”
requires a refractometer so this is off the list. D:

“do oranges lose or gain vitamin C after being picked?”
requires a LOT of equipment i do not have, so this is off too. D:

i would love to do the m&m’s experiment but i think it’s a bit too simple. my next choice would probably be the foam one, but i would need to find some test tubes and rubber stoppers. for the chocolate tempering, the website describes some of the things that could be tested:

“In this science fair project, investigate how different temperatures affect the resulting melted chocolate. After tempering, brush some of the chocolate on wax paper. Does the chocolate harden or does it stay soft? Is it shiny or blotchy? Can you peel it off or does it stick to the paper? Try tempering dark chocolate and white chocolate. Is there a difference in the tempering temperature for each one? Once you have figured out the tempering process of your favourite chocolate, use your recipe to cover nuts, strawberries, or your favourite treat.”

i’ll probably end up doing the foam one if i do one of these three but it would be absolute fun to do the tempering experiment. the tempering experiment also has heaps of variables, so...yeah...

akaTODAY

**UPDATE:

i've just re-read the email that was sent to us & i'm quickly going to add some stuff.

okay, so then for the foam experiment, it's basically getting several different liquids, placing them in separate test tubes with a rubber stopper. the starting liquid height is noted. the tubes are then shaken for a set amount of time and the top of the liquid and the top of the foam is noted. the variables:

independent--size of text tube; amount of each liquid; time used to shake the liquid; the type of liquid

dependent--the amount of foam produced; the temperature on the day;

okay, so i've added temperature as a variable because the original experiment seems a little simple so i might test the same thing but with the added factor of temperature.

05: like omg

so i was searching google to see if anyone else had done a reaction times for different age groups experiment previously so i could see how to conduct it as fairly as possible and i read this:


now i’m freaking out about whether i need to have like say 20 females and 20 males for each age group or if i could just have 10 females and males...
i’m keeping my options open in case i change my mind about the reaction times thing, which i think i am starting to.

04: hey, think fast!

thinking of ways to experiment whether age affects human reaction times. if i do end up doing this, i’ll most likely have about 3 or 4 or maybe even 5 simple reaction tests and i might record it on camera so i can look over and determine accurate results.i’ll have maybe three or four age groups—9-14, 15-20, 21-26, 35-40. if you’re reading this ms zhang, i was wondering if the age groups are too general and should they be more spaced out? i’ve chosen the age groups to try cover pre-teens, teenagers/ adolescents, young adults and then finally the older adults. also, you said we should have at least 30 people, so for each age group i’ll have 30 people. but i don’t really know a lot of people across the age spans, so is it possible if i have 20 people for each age group rather than 30 and could i ask teachers to participate?

03: more ideas

i’ve found three more ideas but still haven’t done much research. our first due date is coming up this thursday so i’m going to try blog as much as i can be bothered. i’m still trying to find an experiment that is food related. one idea is finding out if the same type of mould grows on all types of bread. i must admit that i won’t enjoy it that much because (it’ll be boring &) it’s only bread and the mould will probably creep me out, but it’s food-related so i’ll think about it.
some other ideas which are definitely more interesting are “does the colour of a room affect human behaviour?” and “does age affect human reaction times?” the most interesting experiments seem to be related neurology... anyways, i would love to do either one of them.

02: in my mind

because i want to steer away from plants & product comparison and i've no idea how to incorporate cooking into my experiment, i might do something that investigates how people's brains work in different conditions. i'm not really sure how to...but some of the possible factors which hopefully affect the brain could be light and dark, rest and no rest, temperature maybe, and that's all i can really think of. i'll do some more research and try find more experiments to try. right now my preferences are:

1. cooking-related experiment
2. neurology (is that what it's called?) experiemnt
3. yet to discover

if i do find different and reasonable factors that affect people's brains, i might make like a quiz or something, maybe like a reaction or memory quiz, and record the response or any changes or something similar. hopefully if i do go along with this experiment, i'll have enough people. i'll probably do it on people in the 12-18 age group or something because that means i can use people from school. but i also want to try the experiment with adults as well because our brains are still "developing". the only problem with that is that i don't know a lot of adults. T^T
anyways, good luck to everyone. :D

01: sweet tooth

i really want to do an experiment related to the process of making a cake, but other than that, i've no idea what else i want to do. the only cake-related experiment i can think of is the amount of beating needed for different amount of egg whites before they turn back into liquid. there isn't really an independent variable because everything will probably vary each time because you can't get it exactly exact. most of the experiment would require judgement rather than facts anyway, and not to mention that i'll end up with heaps of meringue/ pavalova and will probably waste heaps of eggs. D:
i'm trying to steer away from plants and product testing because i want something super-ly creative and 100% original. suggestions?

"Hello World"

SRP. good luck. :)