Popcorn Experiment
Popcorn Experiment
Experiment performed on 8/26/11
Biology 101
Introduction:
“The oldest popcorn ever found was discovered in the “Bat Cave” of central New Mexico. Archaeologists found 80,000-year-old corn pollen below Mexico City”. “The popcorn was thougt to be about 5,600 years old”. (www.factmonster.com/spot/popcorn1.html) This particular pollen is almost identical to today’s popcorn pollen. Researchers came up with the theory that popcorn could have been a Stone Age snack for “cave people”. There were other locations where popcorn was also discovered. In Peru archaeologist found kernels that were so well preserved that they could still pop. In Utah researchers found popcorn that was thought to be about 1,000 years old.
Popcorn has improved for consumption over thousands of years. Currently microwavable popcorn is the most common way people make popcorn. The lab team has been hired by consumer reports magazine to help determine which brand of microwave popcorn is the “best”. Two different brands will be compared out of the many. These two brands of popcorn are Pop Secret and Pop Weaver. Pop Secret is a better brand of microwave popcorn, because it has been around longer, and it is a better known brand with a good reputation.
Materials: 1 bag of pop secret 1 bag of pop weaver Ruler Four paper towels
Methods:
1. In this experiment two types of popcorn were obtained. (Pop Secret and Pop Weaver) 2. A criteria was then made to determine which properties would be examined, and how a scale would be developed for grading each property. a) Size of the pieces from each brand averaged in Cm. b) Number of un-popped pieces. c) Size of butter spots averaged in Cm.
3. Both packages of popcorn were popped for same amount of time, both in a microwave and packages were also the same size. 4. Obtained four pieces of paper towel. Two were written with PW for pop weaver and the other two were written PS for pop
Experiment performed on 8/26/11
Biology 101
Introduction:
“The oldest popcorn ever found was discovered in the “Bat Cave” of central New Mexico. Archaeologists found 80,000-year-old corn pollen below Mexico City”. “The popcorn was thougt to be about 5,600 years old”. (www.factmonster.com/spot/popcorn1.html) This particular pollen is almost identical to today’s popcorn pollen. Researchers came up with the theory that popcorn could have been a Stone Age snack for “cave people”. There were other locations where popcorn was also discovered. In Peru archaeologist found kernels that were so well preserved that they could still pop. In Utah researchers found popcorn that was thought to be about 1,000 years old.
Popcorn has improved for consumption over thousands of years. Currently microwavable popcorn is the most common way people make popcorn. The lab team has been hired by consumer reports magazine to help determine which brand of microwave popcorn is the “best”. Two different brands will be compared out of the many. These two brands of popcorn are Pop Secret and Pop Weaver. Pop Secret is a better brand of microwave popcorn, because it has been around longer, and it is a better known brand with a good reputation.
Materials: 1 bag of pop secret 1 bag of pop weaver Ruler Four paper towels
Methods:
1. In this experiment two types of popcorn were obtained. (Pop Secret and Pop Weaver) 2. A criteria was then made to determine which properties would be examined, and how a scale would be developed for grading each property. a) Size of the pieces from each brand averaged in Cm. b) Number of un-popped pieces. c) Size of butter spots averaged in Cm.
3. Both packages of popcorn were popped for same amount of time, both in a microwave and packages were also the same size. 4. Obtained four pieces of paper towel. Two were written with PW for pop weaver and the other two were written PS for pop
References: www.dow.com/scripts/litorder.asp?filepath=/010-93102.pdf&pdf=true (www.factmonster.com/spot/popcorn1.html) (http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Popcorn.html) Results: Table 1. Ratings of both popcorn characteristics: Brand | Average size cm | Number of un-popped kernels | Butter spot size | Total Rating | Pop Secret | 2.8cm | 20 | cm | 22 | Ratings: | PW 8 PS 8 | PW 4 PS 7 | PW 8 PS 7 | | Pop Weaver | 2.9cm | 39 | cm | 20 |