Chemistry of Food and Cooking “Thick Mushroom Bisque”
Helpful background information:
1. How can food’s energy content, nutrition, texture, taste etc. be explained in terms of the atomic, molecular and macromolecular structure of the food?
All foods are made from compounds which contain an uncountable number of molecules inside even just a gram. The structure, contents, and interactions of these molecules are what make foods different from each other. One example of this has to do with why we eat food, its energy content. We as animals need to eat things with chemical energy in them to survive, but what is chemical energy and where is it stored? Chemical energy is energy stored in the bonds between atoms in molecules. Propane, a compound that has chemical energy will transform its energy into thermal energy by combusting, something we're all familiar with. The same process happens to food in our bodies. The food we eat is digested, being converted from complex molecules to more simple and manageable ones like glucose. Then the chemical energy in those molecules is transformed into whatever we need it to be, mechanical thermal and electrical.
Though food’s energy is the main reason we eat, we also eat for enjoyment, but what makes foods taste, smell and feel different? There are many receptors on your tongue and nose that will activate on contact with different molecules. The structure and contents of the molecules determine what it tastes and smell like. One example of a smell that is caused by a single molecule is that smell of rotten eggs or a sulfur hot spring. That smell is caused by hydrogen sulfide. Other smells and tastes can encompass many different molecules in a group. For example, when something tastes sweet it doesn’t indicate a specific molecule on your tongue, but a type of molecule, sugar. There are many ways to make food feel different, but they all have to do with how molecules interact. Water and honey are both liquids, but they act very differently from each other when poured, why is this? The difference is because of viscosity, or a resistance to flow caused by how the molecules in the liquids bump into each other. In the water molecules don’t bump into each other very much causing little resistance. On The other hand in the honey, the molecules bump into each other a lot causing lots of resistance. There are many other ways of making food feel different, but they all have to do with how the very, very little effects the big.
2. How does cooking transform food and how can these transformations be understood as chemical processes?
There are many useful ways that cooking can change food. All of these changes can be expressed through chemical reactions or physical changes. A chemical reaction is when one or more molecules change composition or structure. Many reactions we're used to seeing in the kitchen are, leavening from baking powder or soda the cooking of meat. In the example of baking soda, the compound sodium bicarbonate decomposes into two new compounds under heat. One of those new compounds is carbon dioxide which is a gas under normal temperatures and pressures, creating bubbles in what it is used in. These changes can change that taste and feel of the food completely from the ingredients used and are part of what makes cooking so fun.
Physical changes don't involve any changes to the structure and composition of the molecules involved, but their state. Some examples of physical changes in the kitchen are boiling water off of mushrooms or having gelatin absorb water to make jello. When boiling the water out of mushrooms, the water’s temperature rises enough to turn the water into a gas. The gaseous water exits the mushroom into the outside environment decreasing the mushrooms volume greatly. Physical changes can change the feel, and the amount of flavor in food but aren't as large of a part of cooking as chemical reactions.
3. How can we design an experiment and measure the qualities and desirability of a finished recipe both quantitatively and qualitatively in order to determine the success of our recipe experimentation?
Oddly when collecting information about food quantitative and qualitative information about the same dependent variable, or variable that changes depending on the variable you change for the experiment, can differ greatly. Because of their difference, you should test a dependent variable quantitatively and qualitatively. Determining a qualitative test that you want to try can be easy, there are many variables we think about anyway while eating but, finding qualitative tests that can also be tested to get quantitative information is harder. Testing the strengths of different tastes is an example of a good qualitative test, but creating a quantitative test that tests the same thing would be next to impossible without top-notch lab equipment. A possible good example of a qualitative and quantitative test measuring the same thing would be chewiness. To quantitatively test you could stretch or squish the sample and measure the pressure curve to determine how squishy it is and how it squishes.
In food, the sum of all the parts doesn’t always create the whole. If two different variables are rated high in a meal, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the meal is good. Different flavors and textures that I love can mix to make truly horrible things, such as a chocolate covered meatball. Because it is not always certain if a flavor will increase or decrease the desirability of the food it is good to test how the dependent variable affects the desirability as well. Lastly, you should always test an overall rating of the different experiments; you never know if the right mix of bad tasting variables will make something taste good.
4. In what way(s) are cooking and doing science similar and in what way(s) are they different? How are a cook and a food scientist similar or different?
Cooking and doing science are very similar, the only difference that I can think of is that Steve doesn’t tell us to not eat lab materials while we're cooking. The basic idea behind science is to observe a trend or interaction then formulate a hypothesis describing what you think is happening, then develop and execute a test to prove whether your hypothesis is correct or not. People do this lots in their normal life without noticing, It’s just a problem solving technique. An everyday example of the scientific process in action is seen when a lightbulb goes out. When a lightbulb goes out most people find another light switch nearby and try that light before removing the bulb. They observe that a light is not working, hypothesise that the lightbulb is that part of the system that is broken, and test their hypothesis by trying another light and prove that that is indeed the problem.
When chefs try a new recipe for the first time they often try messing with the amounts of different ingredients they use or cooking times and taste the food their self-adjusting the ingredients afterward to adjust according to what they tasted last time. This is the exact same process as discussed before. They taste the original recipe and observe that something isn’t how they want it, they hypothesize how to change the recipe to make the change they want, and re-cook the recipe with the changes to test whether their changes were right or not. Like other sciences, the culinary sciences intertwine with many other fields of science such as biology and chemistry. To any brewer or bakery chef understanding the conditions in which microorganisms thrive is key to your job and to any candy maker understanding how chemicals interact is a daily part of your job. Chefs are scientists they just aren’t hungry scientists.
1. How can food’s energy content, nutrition, texture, taste etc. be explained in terms of the atomic, molecular and macromolecular structure of the food?
All foods are made from compounds which contain an uncountable number of molecules inside even just a gram. The structure, contents, and interactions of these molecules are what make foods different from each other. One example of this has to do with why we eat food, its energy content. We as animals need to eat things with chemical energy in them to survive, but what is chemical energy and where is it stored? Chemical energy is energy stored in the bonds between atoms in molecules. Propane, a compound that has chemical energy will transform its energy into thermal energy by combusting, something we're all familiar with. The same process happens to food in our bodies. The food we eat is digested, being converted from complex molecules to more simple and manageable ones like glucose. Then the chemical energy in those molecules is transformed into whatever we need it to be, mechanical thermal and electrical.
Though food’s energy is the main reason we eat, we also eat for enjoyment, but what makes foods taste, smell and feel different? There are many receptors on your tongue and nose that will activate on contact with different molecules. The structure and contents of the molecules determine what it tastes and smell like. One example of a smell that is caused by a single molecule is that smell of rotten eggs or a sulfur hot spring. That smell is caused by hydrogen sulfide. Other smells and tastes can encompass many different molecules in a group. For example, when something tastes sweet it doesn’t indicate a specific molecule on your tongue, but a type of molecule, sugar. There are many ways to make food feel different, but they all have to do with how molecules interact. Water and honey are both liquids, but they act very differently from each other when poured, why is this? The difference is because of viscosity, or a resistance to flow caused by how the molecules in the liquids bump into each other. In the water molecules don’t bump into each other very much causing little resistance. On The other hand in the honey, the molecules bump into each other a lot causing lots of resistance. There are many other ways of making food feel different, but they all have to do with how the very, very little effects the big.
2. How does cooking transform food and how can these transformations be understood as chemical processes?
There are many useful ways that cooking can change food. All of these changes can be expressed through chemical reactions or physical changes. A chemical reaction is when one or more molecules change composition or structure. Many reactions we're used to seeing in the kitchen are, leavening from baking powder or soda the cooking of meat. In the example of baking soda, the compound sodium bicarbonate decomposes into two new compounds under heat. One of those new compounds is carbon dioxide which is a gas under normal temperatures and pressures, creating bubbles in what it is used in. These changes can change that taste and feel of the food completely from the ingredients used and are part of what makes cooking so fun.
Physical changes don't involve any changes to the structure and composition of the molecules involved, but their state. Some examples of physical changes in the kitchen are boiling water off of mushrooms or having gelatin absorb water to make jello. When boiling the water out of mushrooms, the water’s temperature rises enough to turn the water into a gas. The gaseous water exits the mushroom into the outside environment decreasing the mushrooms volume greatly. Physical changes can change the feel, and the amount of flavor in food but aren't as large of a part of cooking as chemical reactions.
3. How can we design an experiment and measure the qualities and desirability of a finished recipe both quantitatively and qualitatively in order to determine the success of our recipe experimentation?
Oddly when collecting information about food quantitative and qualitative information about the same dependent variable, or variable that changes depending on the variable you change for the experiment, can differ greatly. Because of their difference, you should test a dependent variable quantitatively and qualitatively. Determining a qualitative test that you want to try can be easy, there are many variables we think about anyway while eating but, finding qualitative tests that can also be tested to get quantitative information is harder. Testing the strengths of different tastes is an example of a good qualitative test, but creating a quantitative test that tests the same thing would be next to impossible without top-notch lab equipment. A possible good example of a qualitative and quantitative test measuring the same thing would be chewiness. To quantitatively test you could stretch or squish the sample and measure the pressure curve to determine how squishy it is and how it squishes.
In food, the sum of all the parts doesn’t always create the whole. If two different variables are rated high in a meal, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the meal is good. Different flavors and textures that I love can mix to make truly horrible things, such as a chocolate covered meatball. Because it is not always certain if a flavor will increase or decrease the desirability of the food it is good to test how the dependent variable affects the desirability as well. Lastly, you should always test an overall rating of the different experiments; you never know if the right mix of bad tasting variables will make something taste good.
4. In what way(s) are cooking and doing science similar and in what way(s) are they different? How are a cook and a food scientist similar or different?
Cooking and doing science are very similar, the only difference that I can think of is that Steve doesn’t tell us to not eat lab materials while we're cooking. The basic idea behind science is to observe a trend or interaction then formulate a hypothesis describing what you think is happening, then develop and execute a test to prove whether your hypothesis is correct or not. People do this lots in their normal life without noticing, It’s just a problem solving technique. An everyday example of the scientific process in action is seen when a lightbulb goes out. When a lightbulb goes out most people find another light switch nearby and try that light before removing the bulb. They observe that a light is not working, hypothesise that the lightbulb is that part of the system that is broken, and test their hypothesis by trying another light and prove that that is indeed the problem.
When chefs try a new recipe for the first time they often try messing with the amounts of different ingredients they use or cooking times and taste the food their self-adjusting the ingredients afterward to adjust according to what they tasted last time. This is the exact same process as discussed before. They taste the original recipe and observe that something isn’t how they want it, they hypothesize how to change the recipe to make the change they want, and re-cook the recipe with the changes to test whether their changes were right or not. Like other sciences, the culinary sciences intertwine with many other fields of science such as biology and chemistry. To any brewer or bakery chef understanding the conditions in which microorganisms thrive is key to your job and to any candy maker understanding how chemicals interact is a daily part of your job. Chefs are scientists they just aren’t hungry scientists.
Water Quality in the Animas River Watershed project
Artist Design Statement
ELEVATOR PITCH
Have you ever wondered where your water goes once it swirls down the drain? Well, our exhibit is designed to show you where the water goes and what it takes to get the water to its end destination, the treatment plant. In the exhibition, our audience will be able to adjust the relative elevation of the treatment plant in a model (using a crank), which will change the flow of water as well as the amount of energy it takes to move it. This is meant to demonstrate how much energy and planning it takes to get water to a treatment plant, either downhill or uphill. We want to show that we don’t usually think about the cost of clean water, the amount of planning that goes into the placement of plants, and how it affects all of us.
I WANT THE AUDIENCE TO LEAVE WITH THE FOLLOWING:
We would like the audience to recognize that the location of the treatment plant influences the amount of energy that it takes to transport wastewater from their houses to be cleaned. The audience will learn that treatment plants are a vital part of our community and that in order to create a clean community we must first create an energy efficient system. We would like to leave the audience with an understanding of what it takes to create an energy efficient system, as well as feeling that the water they use has an impact that they may not have realized. When the intended audience leaves, we would like them to be curious about where their water goes and what it takes to move that water to a treatment plant. We want the audience to be curious about what goes on underneath their feet.
THE STORY MY EXHIBIT TELLS IS?
For hundreds of years, humankind has looked for clean water to drink, bathe in, cook with, and use for all purposes in life. From the 1700s, water purifiers were developed out of coal and sand, until a primitive treatment plant was created in Scotland. Today this concept drives every part of cleaning our water and oftentimes we take this for granted. However, we are still challenged today by the amount of energy it takes to move the water to the treatment plant, and this is what we are attempting to address in our model and concept. Our scientific concepts will hopefully teach our audience about how their actions help or hinder the conservation of energy. The audience will connect to our model and concept because it will push them to think about where their water goes, and why the treatment plant is laid out the way it is. We decided to create a concept design and model because we wanted something that the audience could interact with, but also know the details about. By creating both a model and design, we can take the interaction as well as the detail and combine it to create a more in-depth exhibition.
TARGET AUDIENCE
We intend to target an audience from middle-school to any older age. We hope that our concept design is simple enough for a younger audience to understand, but also for an older community to connect with. We want the audience to have a base education on energy and the way that a treatment plant may work so that our design will leave an impact on them. We want our audience to be able to interact with our model and design and learn something from it while also finding it fun. We hope that we can reach a broad audience and inspire everyone. We have designed our concept as simply as possible to convey the idea that it takes energy to move water, and depending on the location of where the water comes from, it can change the energy cost.
INTERACTION LENGTH & STYLE OF ENGAGEMENT
Our exhibit will hook the audience in with its colorful display, flowing water, moving parts, and educational purpose. This will engage the audience through a number of means, most importantly its interactive nature, where the audience will be able to play ‘controller’ and manipulate the model to their desire. This will lead the audience to learn about how their choices will affect the energy cost and how gravitational potential energy relates to electrical energy. The audience will become engaged with our exhibit through their sense of touch, which they will use to manipulate the relative elevation of the houses and the treatment plant. They will be engaged with the visual area of our model, as it will be very colorful and involve water that the audience will be able to see. The flowing water will hopefully create an audible connection to the model in addition to the visuals, however, it will only go to enhance the senses already engaged. People will stay with our project because we are focusing on a unique problem, with the water going to the treatment plant being the initial issue instead of the end problem. This exhibit will bring in people who like to learn physics, not just people who want to learn about the water treatment plant. The audience will learn all of these while playing in the role of themselves from their own perspectives, because we don’t want them to try to fix the problem, but to learn about why it is a tangible issue. By engaging with the exhibit from their own perspectives, it will hopefully show them how they are experiencing this energy cost first-hand.
DEFENSE
We believe our exhibit is perfect for the Santa Rita Wastewater Reclamation Facility because it addresses an issue that was a large part of the debate of relocating the treatment plant. Our exhibit shows how the placement of the treatment plant takes advantage of the natural geological location to use gravity to move wastewater. It demonstrates the amount of planning that goes into designing a system that is the most efficient and mediates the cost of transportation and energy. The reason this is important for people to learn is that the community should be more aware of why the treatment plant is laid out the way it is, and it what they can do to save money. Most importantly, our model is easy to make and draws the user in with moving parts, flowing water, and colorful modeling, all of which will keep them engaged and eager to learn.
Have you ever wondered where your water goes once it swirls down the drain? Well, our exhibit is designed to show you where the water goes and what it takes to get the water to its end destination, the treatment plant. In the exhibition, our audience will be able to adjust the relative elevation of the treatment plant in a model (using a crank), which will change the flow of water as well as the amount of energy it takes to move it. This is meant to demonstrate how much energy and planning it takes to get water to a treatment plant, either downhill or uphill. We want to show that we don’t usually think about the cost of clean water, the amount of planning that goes into the placement of plants, and how it affects all of us.
I WANT THE AUDIENCE TO LEAVE WITH THE FOLLOWING:
We would like the audience to recognize that the location of the treatment plant influences the amount of energy that it takes to transport wastewater from their houses to be cleaned. The audience will learn that treatment plants are a vital part of our community and that in order to create a clean community we must first create an energy efficient system. We would like to leave the audience with an understanding of what it takes to create an energy efficient system, as well as feeling that the water they use has an impact that they may not have realized. When the intended audience leaves, we would like them to be curious about where their water goes and what it takes to move that water to a treatment plant. We want the audience to be curious about what goes on underneath their feet.
THE STORY MY EXHIBIT TELLS IS?
For hundreds of years, humankind has looked for clean water to drink, bathe in, cook with, and use for all purposes in life. From the 1700s, water purifiers were developed out of coal and sand, until a primitive treatment plant was created in Scotland. Today this concept drives every part of cleaning our water and oftentimes we take this for granted. However, we are still challenged today by the amount of energy it takes to move the water to the treatment plant, and this is what we are attempting to address in our model and concept. Our scientific concepts will hopefully teach our audience about how their actions help or hinder the conservation of energy. The audience will connect to our model and concept because it will push them to think about where their water goes, and why the treatment plant is laid out the way it is. We decided to create a concept design and model because we wanted something that the audience could interact with, but also know the details about. By creating both a model and design, we can take the interaction as well as the detail and combine it to create a more in-depth exhibition.
TARGET AUDIENCE
We intend to target an audience from middle-school to any older age. We hope that our concept design is simple enough for a younger audience to understand, but also for an older community to connect with. We want the audience to have a base education on energy and the way that a treatment plant may work so that our design will leave an impact on them. We want our audience to be able to interact with our model and design and learn something from it while also finding it fun. We hope that we can reach a broad audience and inspire everyone. We have designed our concept as simply as possible to convey the idea that it takes energy to move water, and depending on the location of where the water comes from, it can change the energy cost.
INTERACTION LENGTH & STYLE OF ENGAGEMENT
Our exhibit will hook the audience in with its colorful display, flowing water, moving parts, and educational purpose. This will engage the audience through a number of means, most importantly its interactive nature, where the audience will be able to play ‘controller’ and manipulate the model to their desire. This will lead the audience to learn about how their choices will affect the energy cost and how gravitational potential energy relates to electrical energy. The audience will become engaged with our exhibit through their sense of touch, which they will use to manipulate the relative elevation of the houses and the treatment plant. They will be engaged with the visual area of our model, as it will be very colorful and involve water that the audience will be able to see. The flowing water will hopefully create an audible connection to the model in addition to the visuals, however, it will only go to enhance the senses already engaged. People will stay with our project because we are focusing on a unique problem, with the water going to the treatment plant being the initial issue instead of the end problem. This exhibit will bring in people who like to learn physics, not just people who want to learn about the water treatment plant. The audience will learn all of these while playing in the role of themselves from their own perspectives, because we don’t want them to try to fix the problem, but to learn about why it is a tangible issue. By engaging with the exhibit from their own perspectives, it will hopefully show them how they are experiencing this energy cost first-hand.
DEFENSE
We believe our exhibit is perfect for the Santa Rita Wastewater Reclamation Facility because it addresses an issue that was a large part of the debate of relocating the treatment plant. Our exhibit shows how the placement of the treatment plant takes advantage of the natural geological location to use gravity to move wastewater. It demonstrates the amount of planning that goes into designing a system that is the most efficient and mediates the cost of transportation and energy. The reason this is important for people to learn is that the community should be more aware of why the treatment plant is laid out the way it is, and it what they can do to save money. Most importantly, our model is easy to make and draws the user in with moving parts, flowing water, and colorful modeling, all of which will keep them engaged and eager to learn.
reflection questions
What new information did you learn through doing this project?
During this project one of the things I learned was about the process of how that waste water is pumped. When waste water needs to be transported uphill of its source wet wells are implemented. The first step is routing all of the waste water from one area into a single pipe. Because no one wants a running pump inside their house this usually entails the waist water moving down hill. The second step in this process is the sewage grinder. The sewage grinder takes the waste water and grinds any solids upp into particles small enough to pass through a pump. Next is the actual wet well. A wet well is an underground storage tank that accumulates waste water until there is a significant enough amount to begin pumping. Now is the pump. The pump is the actual mechanism that transports waste water uphill, but the waste water cannot be pumped directly to the treatment plant. The waste water is pumped above the intended destination so it can me dumped into a gravity manhole where gravity builds pressure. From this point the waste water can flow to a treatment plant or another wet well where the process repeats until the waste water can flow downwards to the treatment plant. This is completely different from what I thought at the beginning of this project, mostly because I wasn’t thinking about the process at all. At the very beginning of the project I thought that people just had a sewage pump in their house, but with a little bit of thought I realised that to be wrong.
What new skills or dispositions did you learn from this project?
During this project I learned how to manage schedule changes. When nearing the end of this project I found out that I needed to have surgery, and it was the day before the exhibition. This not only meant that I couldn’t attend school the day before exhibition, a very important day to finalise things, it also meant that I could not attend school the day of the exhibition. Knowing this I made a plan with my partners so that everything they needed from me was done before I had the surgery. This ended up working wonderfully and the project was done when exhibition day came, and I was even able to attend the exhibition. This contrasts to many projects I’ve worked on where I had to be absent. One such example is the movie project last year in biology where a couple day absence ended up slowing down the whole movie. This was because I didn't prepare before my absence and assumed others would take over.
To what extent is the study of water quality an important topic to investigate in school and in a chemistry class in particular?
Water quality is a very important topic to cover, especially in chemistry class. Water quality is a large part of many debates around environmental protection, especially in this area, so it is an important topic to understand. A solid understanding of the forces at work in an issue can make all the difference in deciding the right course of action, especially in a democracy. Many issues in today’s politics stem from a misunderstanding, or over exaggeration. One example is the gold king mine spill. Many people saw the bright orange color of the water and correlated it with bad outcomes. Although, when the test results com in the spill actually did minimal damage compared to the damage already done by the continuous drainage. Another example of this dilemma is that many people do not understand the difference between climate and weather. This small confusion has caused the mass denial of climate change, this is why understanding is key. It’s important to teach water quality in chemistry so we can make informed decisions and have the understanding to back it up.
During this project one of the things I learned was about the process of how that waste water is pumped. When waste water needs to be transported uphill of its source wet wells are implemented. The first step is routing all of the waste water from one area into a single pipe. Because no one wants a running pump inside their house this usually entails the waist water moving down hill. The second step in this process is the sewage grinder. The sewage grinder takes the waste water and grinds any solids upp into particles small enough to pass through a pump. Next is the actual wet well. A wet well is an underground storage tank that accumulates waste water until there is a significant enough amount to begin pumping. Now is the pump. The pump is the actual mechanism that transports waste water uphill, but the waste water cannot be pumped directly to the treatment plant. The waste water is pumped above the intended destination so it can me dumped into a gravity manhole where gravity builds pressure. From this point the waste water can flow to a treatment plant or another wet well where the process repeats until the waste water can flow downwards to the treatment plant. This is completely different from what I thought at the beginning of this project, mostly because I wasn’t thinking about the process at all. At the very beginning of the project I thought that people just had a sewage pump in their house, but with a little bit of thought I realised that to be wrong.
What new skills or dispositions did you learn from this project?
During this project I learned how to manage schedule changes. When nearing the end of this project I found out that I needed to have surgery, and it was the day before the exhibition. This not only meant that I couldn’t attend school the day before exhibition, a very important day to finalise things, it also meant that I could not attend school the day of the exhibition. Knowing this I made a plan with my partners so that everything they needed from me was done before I had the surgery. This ended up working wonderfully and the project was done when exhibition day came, and I was even able to attend the exhibition. This contrasts to many projects I’ve worked on where I had to be absent. One such example is the movie project last year in biology where a couple day absence ended up slowing down the whole movie. This was because I didn't prepare before my absence and assumed others would take over.
To what extent is the study of water quality an important topic to investigate in school and in a chemistry class in particular?
Water quality is a very important topic to cover, especially in chemistry class. Water quality is a large part of many debates around environmental protection, especially in this area, so it is an important topic to understand. A solid understanding of the forces at work in an issue can make all the difference in deciding the right course of action, especially in a democracy. Many issues in today’s politics stem from a misunderstanding, or over exaggeration. One example is the gold king mine spill. Many people saw the bright orange color of the water and correlated it with bad outcomes. Although, when the test results com in the spill actually did minimal damage compared to the damage already done by the continuous drainage. Another example of this dilemma is that many people do not understand the difference between climate and weather. This small confusion has caused the mass denial of climate change, this is why understanding is key. It’s important to teach water quality in chemistry so we can make informed decisions and have the understanding to back it up.