Scientifically Speaking Which Came First?

Today is National Poultry Day and that got me thinking...Which really did come first, the chicken or the egg? Thanks to Popular Science I got this answer:

Prior to that first true chicken zygote, there were only non-chickens. The zygote cell is the only place where DNA mutations could produce a new animal, and the zygote cell is housed in the chicken's egg. So, the egg must have come first.

Americans consume far more poultry meat over beef and pork and the U.S. poultry industry is the worlds largest producer of poultry and the second largest exporter. For those of us who aspire to eat more natural or locally, urban farming (including raising chicken) has become an important teaching tool in many communities to empower people to subsidize their food source from the local market place and gain a better understanding for food nutrition. 

The Importance of Urban Gardening  

This summer I will  be working with children from urban communities in Orlando to understand how important our food sources are. From Seed to Shelf,  we will be exploring how our food is grown, harvested produced and distributed. Integrated within those objectives will be lessons on nutrition and sustainability. Not only will students learn about how their food is grown and farmed, but they will become young inventors and entrepreneurs learning to take what they have grown through the process of inventing a new (or better product) and getting it to the marketplace. For years I have seen schools and communities grow amazing gardens, but what we create from those gardens are just as important as fruits and vegetables harvested. And think what we could teach if we raised chickens for eggs and goats or cow for milk. The children of today, even those living in the burbs have no idea how what goes in their mouths gets to their table. 

Several weeks ago I had a great time hanging out with Jan D'Atri and Chef Tess Bakeresse at the KFYI (Phoenix) studios. Chef Tess made delicious bread and I make homemade butter by simply using some physical science  and whipping cream. The ability to do this within minutes during the middle of a radio studio led us to the conversation of why whipping cream might work better than half-and -half (fat content) and what we can make with the bi-product of the butter. Buttermilk!!! Ricotta came up as another alternative, as Jan's mom used to make homemade butter when she was growing up in Italy. 

In today's world of instant gratification and gadgetry I'm so excited to take a deep breath, smell the urban air and work with kids that will benefit from taking a step back and going "old school". We forget to acknowledge how we are fed and why we need to eat. As we get our hands dirty and learn to innovate our own creations we can begin to identify what is best for us as consumers. We'll read labels, understand marketing buzz words (good and bad) and take what is out there and make it better. 

As the daughter of a grocer and hearing many stories of my dad's early days on the farm, I understand the importance of what we grow and how we place it upon store shelves for consumption. I want to instill in students the ability to think critically, develop their knowledge of food and nutrition all while carving the possibilities for their future. 

The Science of Candy

What to do after the Trick-or-Treating is Over

After costumes are put away and sleepy heads hit their pillows parents are left wondering what to do with the sweet treasures their kids have collected. The over 600 million pounds of candy that Americans purchased for Halloween equates to approximately 2.4 billion dollars spent in 2012 alone.

 So how can we make Halloween candy scientific? Here's a few activities using popular Halloween candy to make Trick-or-Treating fun and a great learning experience.  

Dots Molecules:

Materials: Dots and toothpicks

Water (H20) is the most significant liquid on Earth and one that children are most familiar with. By following the steps below you can create a tasty, sweet model of a water molecule.

Procedure:

• Each atom in a water molecule should be a different color. example: Hydrogen= Red, Oxygen= Green
• Using two your toothpicks attach 2 Hydrogen atoms to 1 Oxygen atom. 

Keep It Going: Take your Dots activity one step further by creating a C02 (Carbon Dioxide, the gas we breathe out) model. 

Candy Chromatography:

Materials: coffee filter, Skittles, water, salt, tin foil, pencil, clear glass cup

Dyes give candy their bright, fun colors. Inside of candy dyes are pigments of color. Different dye colors are created using mixtures of various pigments. 

Procedure: 

• On  a piece of tinfoil evenly space a drop of water for each Skittle color.
• Place each piece of candy on a drop of water and allow the color to dissolve. You can throw away or eat the candy after the color dissolves. 
• Cut the coffee filter into a 3" x 3" square. Using a pencil (ink will run) draw a line approximately 1/2 an inch from the bottom of the filter.
• Place a dot for each Skittle color along the line (evenly spaced).
• Underneath each dot label the color (ie: R= Red)
• Using a toothpick (one for each color) transfer the dye from your tinfoil to your coffee filter. Be sure to place each color on corresponding letter. Allow the liquid to dry and repeat the process 2 more times. (You want to get as much pigment on your filter as possible)

While your colored liquids are drying you can prepare the salt water for the next step of the experiment. 

• In a bowl pour  one cup of water and add 1/8 tsp. of salt, mix well. 
• Pour the saltwater into the cup (just enough to cover the bottom). 
• Place the coffee filter in the cup of water (color marks towards the bottom but not touching the water)

You will observe the saltwater travel up the coffee filter using a capillary action. This is able to happen because the loose fibers in the coffee filter act as narrow capillary tubes. The capillary action will move the pigment along with it. Pigments will travel different distances based on their density. The dots of dye will also separate into different colors. 

Keep it going: You can repeat this experiment by using water based markers, juice or anything that contains dye. 

 

Today is National Popcorn Day!

This innovation that is indigenous North America has come a long way in its 5,000 year history.

Did you know?...

• Popcorn is the only type of corn that will pop.
• Popcorn has been consumed for thousands of years.
• Native American tribes flavored popcorn and even made soups and beer with popcorn.
• Some Native American tribes believed that spirits lived inside kernels of popcorn.
•  The first commercial popcorn popper was engineered in 1885.
• A single kernel of popcorn can reach up to 347 degrees Fahrenheit before it pops.
• Americans eat enough popcorn each year to fill the Empire State Building 18 times. That's 17 billion quarts of popcorn!
• Popcorn needs to contain about 13-14% moisture to pop. 
• Unpopped corn kernels are called "old maids."
• Popcorn comes in two different types: Snowflake and Mushroom
• In 1945 Perry Spencer (credited for engineering the first microwave) was working on an active radar set and noticed that his chocolate bar in his pocket had melted from the microwaves. His first experiment to cook using microwaves was popcorn!
• A kernel reaches approx. 135psi (pounds per square inch) of pressure at the time it pops.

The Science of Popcorn!

A kernel of popcorn, or zea mays everta is full of SCIENCE! The hull, or hard exterior shell of a kernel contains a soft, starchy endosperm and water.  A single kernel of popcorn is made up of 13-15 percent water. As the kernel heats up the water inside turns to steam which exerts lots of pressure onto the hull (the outer covering of the seed). The hull is impermeable because its cellulose molecules are arranged in a highly ordered pattern.  As the pressure inside the hull builds up the starch molecules begin to unwind. Once the kernel pops the drop in pressure and release of steam cause the starch and proteins in the endosperm to expand. Air from the outside of the kernel allows it to cool and 'viola' you have a delicious, fluffy treat!

Miss Science and Jan on the Radio!

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Happy-Holidays-and-a-Happy-New-Year-from-Jan-D-Atri-.html?soid=1102033812830&aid=GyILjJzGJF8

It's National Pickle Day!

One of my favorite things about visiting my family in Iowa is that my aunts and cousins would always make homemade pickles. I LOVE PICKLES! I can't get enough of dill, butter, kosher any kind of pickle. The taste, the texture and the crunch are like music to my mouth.

But did you know there is a science to pickling? Yes...lots and lots of science. Pickling isn't just brine and cucumbers. Pickling is scientific!

 From bread and beer to cheese and wine all of these foods are made through a process called fermentation. The fermentation of food has been happening for thousands of years! When cucumbers are soaked in a salt brine, a sugar eating bacteria is allowed to grow and allows for the tart-tasting production of lactic acid. But there is more to pickling than just salt brine and cucumbers.

Check out this great activity from exploratorium.edu and try to create your own perfect batch of pickles!

http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/pickles/picklelab.html

Miss Science at Everything Kids Fest 2012

Don't have any plans for this weekend? Well come on out and join me at the 2012 Everything Kids Fest! Everything Kids Fest will run on from Saturday, November 17th through Sunday November 18th! Stop by our SciPreneur booth to make some Turkey Snood (aka. SLIME!) and design your own Turkey Snood label. We might just have a Mentos geyser or two!!! Plus enjoy some hands-on science and fun! You can even pick-up a Miss Science Fun Bag!

Be sure to check-out the Miss Science Shows where we will be spinning buckets of water, making giant smoke rings and EXPLODING PUMPKINS!

Shows are:
Saturday: 12:10
Sunday: 1:35

See you at Reach 11 Sports Complex!!!

EGG-citing Science with Jan D'Atri on Fox News 550 KFYI

MAKE a BOUNCING EGG!

When we think of eggs, we don't think of something that can bounce. Try this experiment and see what happens.

Materials: One egg, vinegar

Place the egg in a container of vinegar and leave it out on the counter for 36 hours.

What is happening?
The shell is dissolving! Vinegar contains acetic acid, which breaks apart the solid calcium carbonate crystals that make up the eggshell into their calcium and carbonate parts. Carbon dioxide gas makes the bubbles that you see.


EGG-Spin

Materials: One hard-boiled egg, One raw egg, flat surface


1. Get both eggs spinning on the kitchen table.

2. Stop both eggs, then release them. Watch what happens.

3. The hard-cooked egg will remain stationary, but the raw egg will start spinning again. That’s because the liquid inside didn’t stop moving when you stopped the shell. The moving liquid starts the shell moving again.

4. Set the raw egg aside. Spin the hard-cooked egg again. Get it spinning very, very fast. Once it’s going fast enough, the spinning egg will spontaneously rise up on end and spin like a top.

5. If you don’t get the egg to stand on end the first time, try again. To stand on end, the egg must be spinning faster than about 10 revolutions per second. It took us a few tries to get the egg spinning fast enough.

What’s Going On?

The short answer is: Friction between the eggshell and the tabletop pushes the spinning egg up.

This trick astounds people because the egg appears to be defying gravity. Rather than lying down comfortably (as many of us prefer), the egg spontaneously stands on end.
Some of the energy of the egg’s spin (kinetic energy) is converted to potential energy, the energy that’s stored in an object that has a distance to fall. When standing on end, the egg has more potential energy and less kinetic energy—at least for a few seconds.

EGG IN A BOTTLE (you will need an adult for this experiment)
Materials: one peeled, hard-boiled egg; a milk bottle or jar with a diameter just slightly smaller than the egg.

1. Cut a strip of paper approx. 2"x6"
2. Light the paper and place it inside the bottle.
3. As the paper smokes and burns out, set the egg on top of the bottle.
4. Observe what happens.

What's Happening?
The pressure of the air inside and outside of the bottle is the same, so the only force that would cause the egg to enter the bottle is gravity. Gravity isn't sufficient to pull the egg inside the bottle.

When you change the temperature of the air inside the bottle, you change the pressure of the air inside the bottle. If you have a constant volume of air and heat it, the pressure of the air increases. If you cool the air, the pressure decreases. If you can lower the pressure inside the bottle enough, the air pressure outside the bottle will push the egg into the container.

More of Miss Science and EGG-citing Science! Check out my first appearance on Arizona Midday. May 2010 Arizona Midday- EGG-citing Science 2010