Monthly Archives: September 2010

Candy that would pop or fizzle in your mouth have been around since the 1800’s.  Scientists back then mixed together a sugar syrup (that contained very little water) with baking powder.

Baking powder is a mixture of a powdered acid and baking soda.  When these two molecules are dry, they do not react at all.  However, if they are dissolved in liquid they react rather well to form bubbles of carbon dioxide gas.

In these old candies, the liquid in your saliva provided plenty of fluid to dissolve the sugar and baking powder!  This gave the candy a sour taste and a curiously foamy texture.

The next century found a new twist on this idea that is rooted in the four basic concepts of science:

In order to create what is now called Pop Rocks, scientists followed a simple procedure for creating hard candy.  Of course, there was one small addition they made to the boiling syrup.  Unlike older candies which relied on the ATOMS in the candy rearranging to form new gas molecules within your mouth, scientists pumped carbon dioxide gas DIRECTLY into the cooling hard candy.

These “exploding” candies provide an interesting sensation.  Within their package, these candies look like large, ground-up crumbs of hard candy.  However, once inside your mouth, these “crumbs” pop and fizzle.   In fact, it is very easy to hear someone eating this candy from across the room!

HOW DOES IT WORK?

As the syrup is cooled, scientists need a way to keep the carbon dioxide INSIDE the candy.  Under normal conditions, this gas would DIFFUSE out of the candy and back into the atmosphere.

So, scientists altered the environment of the cooling syrup by using air pressure to keep the carbon dioxide from escaping the syrup.

If you increase the air pressure surrounding the cooling syrup, it can lower the DIFFUSION of carbon dioxide into the environment.  It’s almost like trying to stand up while someone is sitting on you.  It would take a lot more effort!

As the candy hardens, pockets of carbon dioxide gas become trapped.  And, since these pockets of gas were squeezed together because of the increased air pressure, each gas pocket has a higher DENSITY of ATOMS than is found in the atmosphere.

I’m not saying there are more ATOMS within the tiny gas pockets of these candies than in the ENTIRE atmosphere.  But if you were to measure the size of this gas pocket and compare it to an equal of space within the atmosphere, the DENSITY of ATOMS within the candy would be much higher!

OPEN UP AND SAY AHHH…

Once the saliva in your mouth dissolves the candy, DIFFUSION causes the pressurized gas to escape rather quickly.  And while this gas is escaping, you feel and hear these tiny explosions of carbon dioxide gas bursting through the candy.

Even through all of these tiny explosions, no ATOMS are being created or destroyed which is stated within the LAW OF CONSERVATION.

And don’t fall for the old myth that eating this candy and drinking soda pop will cause you to explode.  I spent way too much time as a kid trying to see if this works (okay, I tried it again last week!)

Learn more about chemistry concepts (and many more) in the Classic Science: Series for the Family and be certain to come back every Thursday or subscribe to The Blog of Mr.Q to learn more about how to teach science during breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

I know that I do not use a lot of audio in my blog; however, I do use it tremendously within several science resources in my website.  It took me quite some time to figure out how to manipulate audio clips to do what I wanted them to do.  Luckily, I stumbled across a simple little program that helped me out…

AUDACITY

Audacity is an audio editor that has found itself at the top of many lists for bloggers, educators, music fans, and musicians themselves!

Its flexibility is what is truly remarkable about this free program.  The range of basic effects you can apply to an audio clip is amazing!  I understand that many people do not need to understand the difference between a reverb and a delay, or a compression rate and a beat analyzer.

But if you are looking to simply save and/or edit audio clips, whether they be from a prerecorded song or if you want to plug in a microphone and do some of your own recording, Audacity is something you want!

Mac and Windows users can download this software at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/ .  In addition, you may also want to download the popular LAME software which integrates automatically into Audacity and allows you to convert all of your audio files into the popular .mp3 format.

Now if you were like me when I entered the world of audio editing, you are going to need a few tutorials.  Audacity has a basic tutorial page at which will guide you through some of the easy stuff.

But let’s say you want to turn your own voice into something that resembles a chipmunk, or perhaps a robot… this is when you should tap in to the amazing tutorials at YouTube!

If you have a budding musician or computer geek like me at home, and they want to play around with some audio clips, I am certain you will find Audacity an amazing piece of free software!

I remember the days when hard candy was the #1 item in the candy store.  Peppermints, butterscotch, fruit-flavored hard candies… everything seemed to be made ready to crack a tooth with a single bite.

Recently, we have learned that to make hard candy you need to boil most of the water out of a sugar water solution until nearly all of the water is gone.  The hotter the solution, the harder the candy because:

The more water syrup contains, the softer the candy will be

But as I grew older, I started seeing a change in the types of candy available in the stores.  All of a sudden, a new kind of candy started to emerge…

GUMMY CANDIES

The gummy bear was the first to catch my attention, followed shortly by the gummy worm.  And since that time, an entire gummy “race” has emerged that has DIFFUSED into the pharmaceutical world as well with “gummy medicines.”

You should know by the name alone that these sugary treats will have virtually no hard crystals in them whatsoever.

However, keeping a sugar solution from forming crystals is not an easy task.  We learned previously that by removing the heat from a boiling sugar solution very quickly, we can create a transparent hard candy.  But we don’t want to bust a tooth on a gummy bear.  So how do we keep the final product soft and chewy?  Well, the four basic concepts of science will definitely be something we will need:

CORN SYRUP TO THE RESCUE

In order to keep crystals from growing inside sugar syrup, cooks add corn syrup into the solution.   The long glucose chains that make up corn syrup get in the way of every ATOM within the solution, especially the sugar molecules!

Basically, the corn syrup keeps the free sugar molecules from binding together by getting in their way.  Corn syrup also gives any “species” of gummy organisms a little chewiness as well!

Most gummy candies are made with an equal mixture of sugar molecules and corn syrup.  Cooks also throw in a couple of different molecules as well:

Gelatin and Pectin

Gelatin is a protein made of long chains of ATOMS which resemble a piece of spaghetti when placed into a warm corn syrup/sugar solution.  However, when gelatin cools, it coils up like a telephone cord.  When you add a large amount of gelatin to the soon-to-be gummy bear solution, all of these “cords” get tangled up with each other as they cool and help to turn the cooling liquid into a firmer gel.

Pectin is a molecule typically found within the cell walls of plants and is made up of long strands of “glucose-like” molecules.  This molecule helps to create a smaller (and tasty) “web” of gel within the cooling syrup solution.

With the addition of corn syrup to remove crystallization and gelatin/pectin to create a gel, cooks can easily prepare an army of gummy creatures!  And because of these additional ingredients, most gummy candies are made up of a lot of water (almost 15%.)

IT’S TIME TO RUN AN EXPERIMENT!

The next time you are at the store, pick up a small bag of whatever gummy critter you like and bring him home.

Set him inside a glass of water for a day or so and watch what happens…

YOUR CUTE, INNOCENT-LOOKING GUMMY BEAR WILL SWELL TWO TO THREE TIMES ITS SIZE!

Not a single ATOM was created to cause the swelling of your gummy bear.  That would go against the LAW OF CONSERVATION.

So what caused the massive growth? Steroids, protein shakes, an all-night pork rind binge?  NOPE!

Even though most gummy candies are made up of 15% water, there is a much higher amount of water molecules OUTSIDE the gummy bear as it sits in your glass of water.

And, since ATOMS and molecules tend to move from high concentrations to low concentrations, the water molecules DIFFUSE into the gummy bear.  The DENSITY of the gummy bear will remain the same because it still contains all of its original ATOMS – even though its size increased drastically!

If, for some freakish reason, the gummy bear were to DIFFUSE all of this water into itself and NOT increase in size, then its DENSITY would increase.  That is not what happens in the swelling of your gummy bear!  When the number of ATOMS inside an object increases AND its size increases as well, its DENSITY will not increase at all!

POP QUIZ

I’m not going to tell you how to do this (let’s see how imaginative you are) but let’s say we want to revive our gummy bear back to its original size?  How do you think you could do it?  Feel free to drop me a line and let’s see what you come up with!

Learn more about chemistry concepts (and many more) in the Classic Science: Series for the Family and be certain to come back every Thursday or subscribe to The Blog of Mr.Q to learn more about how to teach science during breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

It’s no secret that opposites attract.  People with opposite personalities end up as best friends; flavors that (rationally) shouldn’t work together are absolutely delicious (sugar in your spaghetti sauce, sweet and sour sauce, etc.); dogs and cats live together in the same home…

OPPOSITES ATTRACT!  And this rule is the foundation for most chemical reactions!

This week, I am going to show you how to create sparks within your mouth using nothing but a piece of candy.

Don’t worry parents!  I promise no children will spontaneously combust during this activity!

The first thing we are going to do is review the four basic concepts of science:

If you have been following this blog at all, you should be very aware of how these four main concepts can be found throughout the kitchen.  But this week, we are going to dig a little deeper into the ATOM to learn how to create sparks in your mouth with only a piece of candy.  So let’s get started:

Each ATOM is made up of different amounts of three different (smaller) objects:

PROTONS – these guys are positively charged

ELECTRONS – these guys are the opposite of protons… they are NEGATIVELY charged

and NEUTRONS – these guys have NO charge at all!

For our purposes, we are going to look at our oppositely charged friends – the protons and electrons.

IT’S TIME TO START SPARKING!

Since all ATOMS contain (most of the time) an equal number of protons and electrons, groups of these ATOMS (molecules) have no charge at all.  This includes sugar molecules too!

However, something interesting happens when you crush large sugar crystals with your teeth…

HALF OF THE CRUSHED CRYSTALS CONTAIN MORE ELECTRONS THAN THE OTHER HALF!

This means that you have a higher DENSITY of little crystals in your mouth that are positively charged (more protons) and negatively charged (more electrons.)  And, since opposites attract, these extra electrons start to jump off of their crystals and DIFFUSE towards the crystals with more protons!

SO WHAT?

Well, the movement of electrons from one place to another is the definition of a little thing we like to call…

ELECTRICITY!

As these electrons jump towards the protons in the sugar crystals, they travel through the air within your mouth.  And, most of the air that we breathe is made up of a particular ATOM called nitrogen.

When electrons smash into Nitrogen ATOMS you get a SPARK!

This is the same thing that happens during a lightning strike as well (only with many more moving electrons!)

LET’S SUM THIS UP…

If you bite down into a hard candy that contains wintergreen oil (Wint-O-Green Lifesavers are great) you will see sparks!  Naturally, you will want your eyes to adjust to the darkness before you try this one.  You will want to sit in a darkened room for a few minutes and close your eyes to speed up the process.  And, if you are worried about your teeth, you can smash the candy with a hammer (just don’t hit a finger instead!)

WHY WINTERGREEN OIL?

There is a molecule within wintergreen oil that has a special property when it is exposed to light.  This property is called fluorescence (“floor-ess-sense.”)   A molecule that has this property acts like a sponge towards light – it soaks it up, stores it for a brief moment, and when there is no more light to absorb it gives off all that light in one big burst!

So when that little spark takes place as electrons smash into nitrogen ATOMS, the wintogreen oil absorbs a lot of the light that is given off, stores it for a millisecond, and releases it throughout your mouth.

Remember, you are not creating any light energy in your mouth at all!  The molecules within the oil are simply soaking them up and releasing them in one quick burst!  Much like ATOMS, light energy also follows the LAW OF CONSERVATION beautifully as no energy is being created or destroyed, only moved around!

Candies have a lot of cool properties we will explore in these next few posts.  Check back next week for another cool experiment you can run at home after a trip through the candy aisle…

Learn more about chemistry concepts (and many more) in the Classic Science: Series for the Family and be certain to come back every Thursday or subscribe to The Blog of Mr.Q to learn more about how to teach science during breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

Last week, you got a crash course in the main sweetener of most cold drinks – high fructose corn syrup. This sweetener is created within corn syrup through the rearrangement of ATOMS within its glucose molecules to form a different sugar molecule – fructose.

And since fructose is TWICE as sweet as glucose, this rearrangement converts corn syrup into the super sweet “high fructose corn syrup.”

Okay.  That is enough review for now.  Well, maybe just one more thing…

You may only need a couple of these four main concepts of science this week!  So let’s get to work!

BE CERTAIN TO READ THE LABELS

If you read the ingredients in a can of regular Coke, you probably will read that it contains around 41 grams of sugar (aka – sucrose.)

(To give you an idea of how much sugar this really is, try to imagine pouring out the table sugar within 18 packets you typically find on the tables of restaurants.  I’m not kidding here.  I really meant to say 18 packets!)

You will NOT find the same ingredient within a can of Diet Coke.  So where does the sweetness come from?

Well, scientists have created molecules that are much more sweet than table sugar OR high fructose corn syrup.  One of these molecules, ASPARTAME (“asp-ur-tame”),  is nearly 200 times as sweet as table sugar!

So…  you only need a small pinch of aspartame within your Diet Coke to equal the sweetness within the 18 packets of sugar within the regular Coke.

POP QUIZ TIME!

If both cans you are observing are the same size AND contain the same amount of liquid (they should), which of the two would have the most ATOMS?

If you said the regular Coke, you are correct!

Remember, the Diet Coke only has a pinch of sweetener as compared to the regular Coke.  In fact, you can test this very easily by weighing both cans.  The regular Coke will weigh a lot more because of all its extra sugar.  This means there are far more ATOMS within that can of regular Coke.

What happens to objects that are less DENSE than water when you drop them (gently) in a container of water?

Objects that are more DENSE than water will SINK when placed within a container of water.

I could go into why this happens in great detail; however, I believe you would find it about as interesting as reading your tax forms.

MAKE A PREDICTION

What do you believe will happen to both cans when you drop them into a sink-full of water?

Which one will float?  Which one will sink?  Will they BOTH sink?

Okay.  Ready?  Go ahead and drop the cans into the water.

Unless you filled up your sink with ocean water, you should have noticed that the regular Coke sinks to the bottom while the Diet Coke floats on the surface.

TWO THINGS ARE GOING ON HERE

First, the extra ATOMS increase the DENSITY of the regular Coke, which causes it to sink to the bottom.

Second, both cans contain a small amount of empty space once they are filled and sealed up.  This “bubble” of air acts like an inflatable raft for both cans; however, the extra ATOMS within the regular Coke make the can too heavy to stay afloat (unlike the Diet Coke.)

Learn more about chemistry concepts (and many more) in the Classic Science: Series for the Family and be certain to come back every Thursday or subscribe to The Blog of Mr.Q to learn more about how to teach science during breakfast, lunch, and dinner!