Day #2

Unfortunately, I couldn't take as many pictures for Day #2. However, I noticed the bananas turned more yellow, but I could not spot a difference in the apples.

Apples (applies to all packaging)

• Smell - green apple. Vague.
• Hardness - Very hard.
• Colour - Green
• Other - Roots were getting browner

Bananas (applies to all packaging)

• Snell - Bananas, like apples it wasn't very distinctive.
• Hardness - Not as hard as day #1.
• Colour - Green
• Other - more brown spots and patches of yellow appears.

Day #1 - Setting Up

I have officially started the experiment at 5:30pm, 9th May.

In my older blogs, I have posted my method. However, I have edited as I realised today that it is difficult to cut same sized holes and quickly. So I decided to hole punch them, so I edited the method to say 'hole punch or cut'. Hole punching the paper bags is my efficient, looks better, and easier to control (size and number of holes).

So first I came home from the supermarket and got all the things for the experiment, then I followed the method I wrote over a month ago here

(from left to right - green apples, paper bags, green bananas)

And here are some other photos:

I aligned the fruits so that it was 'Plastic bag, brown paper bag with holes, brown paper bag, nothing'. I also labelled the brown paper bags with 'A' for 'Apples' and 'B' for 'Bananas' in case it gets messed up later on.

The spot where I my fruits are right now is in the kitchen. I chose this place because

1. It has no direct contact with sunlight
2. It has enough space for all 8 fruits
3. In case it smells later on, it would only be in the kitchen
4. It seemed suitable.

Here are the final placements of my fruits.

My results for today:

Apples

• Smell - fresh, green apple
• Colour - Nice-looking green
• Hardness - Hard
• Other - None

Bananas

• Smell - really raw banana smell.
• Colour - Green, with some patches of yellow in the middle.
• Hardness - Hard (for a banana)
• Other - These's a few brown spots on the bananas.

I will be starting...

I am planning on starting my SRP tomorrow. I'm a bit late, I know, but lately I haven't been managing my time properly. But I still have time to do my SRP without rushing anything, if I start within this week. However if things do not go according to plan, I will try and start my SRP before exactly next week.

For my SRP, I have to buy:

• 4 green bananas
• 4 apples
• 4 paper brown bags (so I might end up getting a whole pack)

Hopefully I can get the things tomorrow and start my SRP because I'm really excited to start it!

Climate Graph

I have finished my climate graph that is due when the next blog submission is due. On that day, I will do a 'summary' blog, which is everything that is needed for the criteria for the submission. I am not sure if this is completely right as I'm not an expert with Excel and I might have missed a few things here and there. But I'll post it anyway because I can't really see anything wrong with it... yet! It's pretty big, but if I make it any smaller, then the words won't be clear.

In class, I already started doing the temperature line graph. Luckily I started in class because I'd forgotten how to do line graphs (well it was made like a 'scatter graph' but later a trend line was added) but I was reminded how to do it during class. So today, I continued on with this graph and it took longer than I expected.

So first I made the rainfall column graph. Then I had to copy and paste this graph next to my temperature graph, and make sure they're aligned, and equal. After, I merged these two graphs on photoshop. It took a while to adjust it so that the graph looked as if it was just one, not from two different graphs. I then moved the y-axis of the temperature graph to the right, so that it's clearer. I also then added the title, and the axis title.

How does packaging affect the rate of fruits staying fresh

Walking around the supermarket, I noticed that different types of fruit have different packaging. For e.g., strawberries were in little boxes that had holes and pears had plastic netting. I wondered if other fruits such as bananas and apples needed packaging to stay fresh longer, because sometimes they have packaging, sometimes they don't. So I decided to test this curiosity.

Aim: To determine what type packaging allows fruits to stay fresh the longest.

Equipment:

• 4 Brown paper bags
• 2 plastic bags
• 4 green bananas
• 4 apples

Method:

1. Cut/Hole Punch some holes in 2 of the 4 brown paper bags.
2. Ensure that the holes are around the same size and the bags have the same number of holes.
3. Place the 3 of the 4 bananas in the different packaging, 1 in the brown paper bag, 1 in the now brown paper bag with holes and the last in the plastic bag.
4. Seal the opening of the packagings.
5. Place the last banana next to the 3 other bananas without placing it in a packaging.
6. Repeat steps 3 -5 but instead of bananas, use apples.
7. Put the 8 fruits into the same place, where there is not a direct threat of sunlight.
8. Observe any changes (listed below) every day for a few weeks.
9. Tabulate your results.

Observed Changes:

• Smell
• Colour
• Hardness of the fruit.
• Other (such as wrinkles, spots etc.)

By the end of the experiment, I should be able to answer the following questions:

• Which type of packaging experimented allowed the fruit to stay longer?
• Did holes make a difference in any way?
• Does different fruits prefer different packagings?

I also did a little research and I learnt that as fruits ripens, it develops a gas called the 'Ethylene gas' and this gas can over ripen fruits which leads to spoilage. Also, there is actually a branch of science called 'Packaging Science'. I actually wasn't aware of the fact that there are scientists who are still experimenting with the type of packaging for a certain fruit. I never knew that packaging would be such a hard process.

All information/method/inspiration was from this site:

"How Does Packaging Affect the Ripening of Fruit?" - Science Buddies

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_ideas/MatlSci_p022.shtml

[last updated 24th August 2007]

Some Ideas

I may have two more ideas. They seem alright to do right now, but I might change my mind the next day because I always change my mind. I was thinking of doing:

1. How long it takes for a certain type of bread to mould. Then the different variables would be different types of bread (white, wholegrain etc.). I think this experiment is a little gross though.

2. A memory experiment. Like I hold up signs that may say 'red' but really it's yellow and ask what colour it is after showing the sign to them for a few seconds. Something like that. I might change it a little bit though, a memory experiment sounds fun.

I'll think this out a little more tomorrow, and I'll ask Ms Zhang as well, so maybe by next week I'll be starting my SRP.

Ideas

I've been thinking of some ideas for my SRP. I wanted to do something that didn't require much equipment and material, something that was pretty simple, but effective. I didn't have many ideas, but I did some googling and found/thought of 2 ideas, so I decided to ask for approval.

My ideas:

1. Hand a couple of people their horoscopes and ask them to rate from one to ten how accurate their horoscopes were.

2. Get highlighters of the same brand, and see what colour is the most long lasting.

Both of these ideas were rejected.

1. Too many variables

2. Not appropriate for my age.

I'm still thinking of some ideas, but I have to make sure they're doable, not too much variables but not little either and they are not too inappropriate for my age or anything.