Artifacts
During my Junior year, I did a science fair on calories. Food is such a huge factor in my life, for my last science fair project I thought that I would do it on something interesting. My objective was to find out on how much calories the food that I was testing had. Calories=chemical energy stored in a certain food. I'm most proud of this work because ever since I have been attending ACLC, I have been doing science fair projects, which has been five years. I finally had a chance to go attend the Alameda County Science Fair. It was extremely intimidating because it felt so real. It turned out that I got a Honorable Mention, which is a huge deal because so many people had competed.
Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of my science board and my document of the science project couldn't be found. This is just missing the data, pictures and conclusion!
Question: Which type of food will have the most chemical energy stored?
Research:
calorie (cal): (small calorie or gram calorie) pre-SI metric unit of energy. It was not actually a unit of heat in the original metric system. Nicholas Clément experimented and introduced calories on lectures that were on heat engines. Then in 1863, the word calorie then entered the English language. This was done through the translation of Ganot’s popular French physics text. Calorie was defined as a heat that was needed to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water to the result room 0 to 1°C. By the 20th century, nutritional calorie was incorporated in US culture and nutritional policy.
Calorie (Cal): (larger calorie, kilogram calorie, dietary calorie, or food calorie. It’s the energy that is needed to increase the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1 °C. It is exactly 1, 000 small calories or an estimate of about 4.2 kilojoules.
Calorimeter: A device that measures heat flow, more like a container with insulating walls. This is made so no heat is able to be exchanged between the contents of the calorimeter and also the surroundings. The things that are happening in the calorimeter, chemical reactions could occur. Or another possible thing that could happen is that the heat could pass from one part of the contents to another. But in the end, no heat flows into or either out of the calorimeter either from or to the surroundings.
Oxidation: It’s the interaction which is between oxygen molecules and all the different substances that it could contact. (Metal to living tissue). Since the discovery of electrons, oxidation actually came to be more precisely defined. It was defined as the loss of at least one electron when an interaction of two or more substances occurred. When oxidation involves oxygen, it depends on the amount of oxygen that is presented in the air. Also the nature of the things that the material touches. For an example, with fresh fruit, the skin of the fruit most times provide a barrier against oxidation. Because of this reason, most fruits and vegetables arrive in great condition at the store.
Chemical energy: It’s the energy that is held in the covalent bonds that are between atoms in a mole. Each one of these bonds has a certain amount of energy. In order to break the bond, it requires energy. When the broken bonds join together it then creates a new set of molecules.
Proteins, fats, and sugars are all of a huge nutrional value to living organisms. They each have a great jobs of providing energy to plants and animals. All of these three are organic molecules. Fats are energetically considered the most concentrated of all sustenance materials. It is found in both plant and animal organisms, serves these living organism as a source of energy. It’s amazing chemical structure can provide the organisms with the greatest amount of energy. Fats and oils are very important to good health, and animals must consume it for them to maintain a normal life. The fat contents in plant seeds can actually range up to 50% which are cocoa, nuts, rape. Also they have approximately 9 calories in a gram of fat. Proteins on the other hand are composed of long chains of amino acids. An organic compound contains a great number of protein. Lastly, sugars are often found in nature food stubs. It takes part in the synthesis of both RNA and also DNA. It can be divided into two groups which is a simple group of sugar. (monosaccharides) and into a more complex sugar (polysaccharides). Sugar contains about approximately four calories per gram.
Hypothesis: The macadamia nut will have more chemical energy stored inside compared to the other food because it contains a lot of fat. Fats can contain approximately 9 calories per gram. Sugar on the other hand contains about four calories per gram. Marshmallows have a ton of sugar that’s part of it’s ingredient.
Materials
Homemade Calorimeter:
Constructing the Homemade calorimeter:
Part 1
3. Taking the smaller can, fill it half way with distilled water. Then measure the initial temperature of the water.
4. Grab the cork with the needle and impale the food item on the needle.
5. Place the cork on a non-flammable surface then light the food. (Nuts take longer to catch on fire)
6. When the food catches on fire, quickly take your calorimeter pieces. Place the large can around the cork. Then carefully place the smaller can above the food.
7. Wait until the food burns out completely.
8. Carefully remove the small can by holding the ends of the chopstick. The can will be hot so be cautious. Then place it on a flat, heat-proof surface.
9. Stir the water and measure the final temperature using the thermometer.
10. Until the food that was just burnt completely cools down, remove it from the needle and weigh the remains.
11. Repeat these same steps for all the food that will be tested. To get a consistent result, do multiple trial samples of the food.
12. Analyze your data and calculate the energy that was released each individual food item.
2nd Artifact:
For English we had to write a poem inspired from the beat generation. It wasn't easy because of the different writing style we tried to create. And in general I'm not great at writing! But I felt that it was my best work for English and I felt challenged and inspired to do my best.
Beat Generation Poem:
It started with the colorful creator who
Wanted to create something,
Colorful.
The neon president was born into a
Pragmatic society which made him go gorillas. .
Black and white televisions, smelly gas from brand new cars
Flowers dying and kids crying
Made the neon president think “neonly”
He sighed and cried until,
His mind went psychotic
Even his garrulous coffee began to sing
Just face it, it said
The world is officially black and white
The neon and colorful age is gone
It’s an hackeyed jawbreaker generation.
3rd Artifact:
For Diversity Day, I volunteered to teach an "Origami Class" with two other classmates. We went to San Francisco to get the origami materials. Then taught the class, which had a ton of people. I felt proud as a learner because it was the first time I did anything that big. I always felt obligated to learn, but it felt great to teach the community something new. It was a fun experience, and I had the opportunity to bond with everyone who attended our class.
Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of my science board and my document of the science project couldn't be found. This is just missing the data, pictures and conclusion!
Question: Which type of food will have the most chemical energy stored?
Research:
calorie (cal): (small calorie or gram calorie) pre-SI metric unit of energy. It was not actually a unit of heat in the original metric system. Nicholas Clément experimented and introduced calories on lectures that were on heat engines. Then in 1863, the word calorie then entered the English language. This was done through the translation of Ganot’s popular French physics text. Calorie was defined as a heat that was needed to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water to the result room 0 to 1°C. By the 20th century, nutritional calorie was incorporated in US culture and nutritional policy.
Calorie (Cal): (larger calorie, kilogram calorie, dietary calorie, or food calorie. It’s the energy that is needed to increase the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1 °C. It is exactly 1, 000 small calories or an estimate of about 4.2 kilojoules.
Calorimeter: A device that measures heat flow, more like a container with insulating walls. This is made so no heat is able to be exchanged between the contents of the calorimeter and also the surroundings. The things that are happening in the calorimeter, chemical reactions could occur. Or another possible thing that could happen is that the heat could pass from one part of the contents to another. But in the end, no heat flows into or either out of the calorimeter either from or to the surroundings.
Oxidation: It’s the interaction which is between oxygen molecules and all the different substances that it could contact. (Metal to living tissue). Since the discovery of electrons, oxidation actually came to be more precisely defined. It was defined as the loss of at least one electron when an interaction of two or more substances occurred. When oxidation involves oxygen, it depends on the amount of oxygen that is presented in the air. Also the nature of the things that the material touches. For an example, with fresh fruit, the skin of the fruit most times provide a barrier against oxidation. Because of this reason, most fruits and vegetables arrive in great condition at the store.
Chemical energy: It’s the energy that is held in the covalent bonds that are between atoms in a mole. Each one of these bonds has a certain amount of energy. In order to break the bond, it requires energy. When the broken bonds join together it then creates a new set of molecules.
Proteins, fats, and sugars are all of a huge nutrional value to living organisms. They each have a great jobs of providing energy to plants and animals. All of these three are organic molecules. Fats are energetically considered the most concentrated of all sustenance materials. It is found in both plant and animal organisms, serves these living organism as a source of energy. It’s amazing chemical structure can provide the organisms with the greatest amount of energy. Fats and oils are very important to good health, and animals must consume it for them to maintain a normal life. The fat contents in plant seeds can actually range up to 50% which are cocoa, nuts, rape. Also they have approximately 9 calories in a gram of fat. Proteins on the other hand are composed of long chains of amino acids. An organic compound contains a great number of protein. Lastly, sugars are often found in nature food stubs. It takes part in the synthesis of both RNA and also DNA. It can be divided into two groups which is a simple group of sugar. (monosaccharides) and into a more complex sugar (polysaccharides). Sugar contains about approximately four calories per gram.
Hypothesis: The macadamia nut will have more chemical energy stored inside compared to the other food because it contains a lot of fat. Fats can contain approximately 9 calories per gram. Sugar on the other hand contains about four calories per gram. Marshmallows have a ton of sugar that’s part of it’s ingredient.
Materials
Homemade Calorimeter:
- Coffee can
- Soup can ( or any can that is able to fit inside the coffee can)
- Cork
- Needle
- Pencil
- Pliers
- Wooden chopsticks
- Thermometer
- Lighter or matches
- Digital Pocket Food Scale
- Water
- Drill
- Hot Cheetos
- Dry Pet Foods
- Macadamian nut
- Marshmallow
Constructing the Homemade calorimeter:
Part 1
- (Remember when selecting the two cans, one of them should be able to nest inside the other one. The can that’s smaller needs to be able to sit high enough so the cork, food, and needle can be burning underneath it.)
- Using the can opener, remove the top and bottom part of the coffee can.
- Then taking the beer can opener, make about eight holes on the bottom of the can. This will allow air maintain the fire.
- Now, using the smaller can (soup can) remove only the top part of the can. The smaller can will contain the water.
- Using the beer can opener, punch in two holes opposite of each other. One on the left, one on the right.
- Taking the wooden chopstick, slide it through both the holes. Make sure the support is longer than the length of the coffee can.
- Use the pliers to firmly grip the needle and push the non pointy end into the cork. The sharper part of the needle will have the food that is going to be impaled.
3. Taking the smaller can, fill it half way with distilled water. Then measure the initial temperature of the water.
4. Grab the cork with the needle and impale the food item on the needle.
5. Place the cork on a non-flammable surface then light the food. (Nuts take longer to catch on fire)
6. When the food catches on fire, quickly take your calorimeter pieces. Place the large can around the cork. Then carefully place the smaller can above the food.
7. Wait until the food burns out completely.
8. Carefully remove the small can by holding the ends of the chopstick. The can will be hot so be cautious. Then place it on a flat, heat-proof surface.
9. Stir the water and measure the final temperature using the thermometer.
10. Until the food that was just burnt completely cools down, remove it from the needle and weigh the remains.
11. Repeat these same steps for all the food that will be tested. To get a consistent result, do multiple trial samples of the food.
12. Analyze your data and calculate the energy that was released each individual food item.
2nd Artifact:
For English we had to write a poem inspired from the beat generation. It wasn't easy because of the different writing style we tried to create. And in general I'm not great at writing! But I felt that it was my best work for English and I felt challenged and inspired to do my best.
Beat Generation Poem:
It started with the colorful creator who
Wanted to create something,
Colorful.
The neon president was born into a
Pragmatic society which made him go gorillas. .
Black and white televisions, smelly gas from brand new cars
Flowers dying and kids crying
Made the neon president think “neonly”
He sighed and cried until,
His mind went psychotic
Even his garrulous coffee began to sing
Just face it, it said
The world is officially black and white
The neon and colorful age is gone
It’s an hackeyed jawbreaker generation.
3rd Artifact:
For Diversity Day, I volunteered to teach an "Origami Class" with two other classmates. We went to San Francisco to get the origami materials. Then taught the class, which had a ton of people. I felt proud as a learner because it was the first time I did anything that big. I always felt obligated to learn, but it felt great to teach the community something new. It was a fun experience, and I had the opportunity to bond with everyone who attended our class.