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.