Experiment

I designed my own lab today.  With the help of Mr. Ludwig I hope to test it out soon.

How the idea came about?

This idea came about during a very random conversation with a friend over Skype. We were discussing our favorite food entrees and mine so happened to be Tequila marinated steaks. Specifically Lowery's tequila marinade. Which has been discontinued. My friend had given me a look of disgust and said that would be something he did not try as alcohol made meat rubbery. He said that if it was the correct volume of alcohol it would even allow the meat to bounce like a bouncy ball. So to prove him wrong (or right as he is notoriously right about things ) I am going to try it.

Materials needed:

  1. some form of alcohol (Ethanol, alcohol, rubbing alcohol, and or some liquor)
  2. a rump roast or some form of meat (cut for multiple tests)
  3. a testing area (preferably a school wall so I can record and take data)
  4. a computer
  5. a recording device (Ipod, Ipad, Iphone, mac book)
Basic outline of test:

I would start off by measuring around 20-30 mm of each form of alcohol in a small bowl or dish. With each cut of meat I will "marinate" each cut for about the normal time for a marinating period, say about a hour to a hour and a half. After the correct amount of time has passed I shall take each cut of meat and test its "bouncy-ness" by throwing it at the school wall. If it bounces, then I will have to give in and pay up to my friend, if not he pays up.

I shall take it further though and continue my experiments.

Experiments:
HOw long will it bounce?
Will it bounce?
Which alcohol works the best?

popcorn lab

This lab was extensively amusing to do. (please ignore the cuss word. it was either me or Timmy and neither of us can remember when we jumped)

Supplies:

1. 100 grams of oil
2. 30 corn kernnals
3. a beaker
4. a bunson burner
5. a striker
6. gas
7. bagged popcorn

Procedure:
First we weighed the beaker. Then added the corn and weighed it again. Each weighed about a gram more/less respectfully. Leigh managed to turn the burner on and we waited for the kernels to reach the appropriate temperature before it began to pop. It was crucial for us not to burn the popcorn (I had a theory that burned popcorn weighs more, where we managed for the most part and then we had to wait for the popcorn to cool down.
WE weighed again (each about weighing a gram and a half each more) and found that the popcorn, popped had more massed being fluffy then actually being a hardened kernel. I thought that was interesting for the most part because i believed it would have lost mass instead of gaining that.

IT raised some questions for me though.
Is this a constant factor with popcorn? What if we tried this with other items that will pop, would the same result happen? It seems like the water from the popcorn had evaporated and that had caused the reaction which was the popping of the kernel. Why would not the oil then rejuvinate the kernel as the water evaporated as it does for human skin?