How to Teach Science During Breakfast… With Bacon

I love bacon. I can’t help it.  It hasn’t yet reached the level of an addiction; however, I have found that I sometimes spend a little too long in the bacon aisle at the grocery store.

Nevertheless, I’ve always been told that the secret to life is to find something you truly love and then try to make a living off of it.  Why not try to blend my true love for Science with one of my most favorite foods?

Just for the record – I am talking about pork belly bacon here.  I don’t have anything against Canadian bacon (which actually comes from the middle of a pig’s back AND NOT CANADA!) or turkey bacon (which I believe is a truly horrible joke.)

There’s an easy way to use this greasy fried goodness in your Science lessons:

First, you may want to review the four main concepts of science to look for while cooking bacon:

Second, what are atoms doing in the bacon?

You probably already know that bacon (like everything else in the universe) is made up of atoms.  What you may not know is that all atoms, even the ones that bond together to form bacon, are in constant motion.  That’s right. I know this doesn’t make too much sense to you.  And I have to admit, if I were to see a slice of bacon move around on its own I’d probably be running as fast as I could out my home!  But ALL atoms are in constant motion.  Even the atoms that make up a delicious slice of bacon are vibrating in place.  But…

…these atoms are really going to start moving once we add some heat!  Which brings us to the next topic:

Third, (and my personal favorite) how do you get that amazing aroma to diffuse through the air?

Diffusion is the movement of a large group of atoms into areas without many of the same atoms.  Confused?  Let me explain…

When you add heat to an atoms, they tend to absorb that energy and become a little more “active.”  All of the atoms that make up bacon tend to stay attached to each other while they are laying there (beautifully, might I add) on the cold skillet.  As the temperature increases, the atoms tend to move much faster until the water in the bacon starts to boil (that’s the amazing sizzling sound you hear) and the solid fat within the bacon (that’s the white part of the bacon slice) begins to melt into a liquid.

While this is happening, the tissues of the bacon are heating up and beginning to cook.  This releases all kinds of different chemicals into the air, some of which include that delicious aroma.  Now for the big question –

Does that aroma stay put in the skillet?

No way! A huge amount of these chemicals are surrounding the cooked bacon at first; however, they diffuse away into the air and throughout the house. These chemicals that are released into the air have a huge amount of energy from the hot skillet.  They are speeding away from that skillet as fast as they can!   Now on to our next concept…

Fourth, what is happening to the density of the bacon as it cooks?

The answer to this question is both a blessing and a curse.  The bacon’s density (the amount of atoms contained within itself) begins to decrease as the heat causes the water to boil and the fat to melt into the skillet.

It’s the saddest part of breakfast – watching the bacon shrink down to 1/3 of its size.  I won’t lie.  It’s heartbreaking to me.  But I can’t experience that amazing aroma without it; therefore, I take the good with the bad.

Fifth, are any atoms created or destroyed during this process?

No! The Law of Conservation states that atoms cannot be created or destroyed, only rearranged into different things.

For example, not a single atom was destroyed when the solid fat in the bacon melted in the skillet.  They simply absorbed the energy from the stove, broke away from each other, and started spilling out throughout the skillet as a liquid.

And no atoms were created in the mouth-watering smells that filled the room.  What you smell are the new arrangements of atoms from the chemical reactions taking place within the hot bacon and diffusing throughout the house!

There you have it!

Atoms, Diffusion, Density, and the Law of Conservation – The only tools you’ll ever need!

Find out more about these and many more scientific concepts within the Classic Science Curriculum.

Tags: atoms, cooking, density, diffusion, food, law of conservation, science