Sciece Fair APPLE PROJECT....?

Question

I am doing a science fair to see which apple browns the most.. the areas that I am putting the apple slices in are the... Freezer, fridge, countertop and the dark closet. I need to have a control and i dont know where i should put the apple as a control.... help..

Answer 1

Hi,

First you should have about 3-5 apples for each test of your experiment... in other words 3-5 apples to put in the freezer, 3-5 apples to put in the fridge, 3-5 on the counter, etc. (you get the picture).  That way you will get a better idea of how each element of your experiment effects the apple (the more apples you use in each element or test, the more accurate your results should be).

The ideal experiment would be for you to pollinate the flowers of a single apple tree at the same time and then select all of your test apples from that tree that are the same size.

Presuming the above is not possible for you, the next best thing is to leave 3-5 apples on the tree for your control and, if that is not possible, I would suggest using the countertop location for your control.

I would also suggest adding another element/test to your experiment.  That is to put 3-5 apples each in their own separate paper bag... you might be surprised at what containing the gases that are released by an apple might do to it.

Good luck with your project.

I hope that this is of some help to you.

Hiking Tony

Answer 2

To me what it sounds like is which conditions do apples brown fastest in....

Don;t forget to actually find out the SCIENCE behind the browning....from what I remember there is an enzyme ( you will have to find out what it is) in the apple that reacts to the air and it turns the apple brown ( I think its like oxidising)....find out WHY this happens....there must be some website with information on why it happens......so you need to link this into your results.....eg freezer if you get little browning you can say things like the temperature of the freezer/fridge affected the effectiveness of the enzyme and limited the browning....but for places like the countertop there was a lot of browning....

I would think about doing it in a place with limited oxygen ( which will stop the enzyme) as you can buy cut apple in packets now, so that must have something on it or limited oxygen that stops the browning until you open the packet. Could you get vaacum seal and remove oxygen....like one of those pumps you use to remove air out of bags for freezer or something similar.......

for a control you might be able to use this or an uncut or freshly cut apple.... its a bit hard to do this as its looking at a biochemical reactions that is taking place and while the place that you put an apple will affect to some degree the browning, the reaction will still take place, unless you can STOP the enzyme ( chemical reaction) in the place you are putting it.

Things to ponder.....