Chemistry Of Food and Cooking: Rhubarb Hand Pies
Reflection:
How does the ingredient you experimented with affect the food’s overall characteristics?
The ingredient I experimented with was butter, I used a consistent amount of butter but changed the way I incorporated it. The three different ways of incorporation affected how many layers were in the crust after being baked. The more layers present in the crust makes it flakier. My goal was to find witch method of incorporation resulted in the flakiest crust. My experiments told me that lamination was the method that resulted in the flakiest pie crust. This was because lamination made the most layers.
Lamination resulted in the most layers because the dough was folded over itself and a layer of butter creating dozens of thin layers. As the temperature in the oven rose the thin layers of butter melted witch released the water in the butter as steam. The hot steam rises witch pushes up the layers of dough. Lamination resulted in the most layers that then created air pockets, witch create a flakier dough.
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?
Science and cooking are similar in that both are the practice of creating an idea than obtaining results. In science the idea is a desired result that we then use known ingredients and procedures to gain an understanding of how we achieve that desired result. In cooking we strive to use a the optimal method to create a desired product. Science and cooking both ways of trying to understand why something works and what is the best way to make it work. A scientist aims to understand why something happens and chef aims to use their understanding to produce the optimal results.
Science and cooking are different because science is the process of learning why and what is happening unlike cooking witch typically revolves around taste only. Chefs don't care to discover why their food taste good only that it dose. A scientist aims to understand why something happens and a chef aims to produce the best food. This is why combining the two ideas is optimal in the kitchen.
The ingredient I experimented with was butter, I used a consistent amount of butter but changed the way I incorporated it. The three different ways of incorporation affected how many layers were in the crust after being baked. The more layers present in the crust makes it flakier. My goal was to find witch method of incorporation resulted in the flakiest crust. My experiments told me that lamination was the method that resulted in the flakiest pie crust. This was because lamination made the most layers.
Lamination resulted in the most layers because the dough was folded over itself and a layer of butter creating dozens of thin layers. As the temperature in the oven rose the thin layers of butter melted witch released the water in the butter as steam. The hot steam rises witch pushes up the layers of dough. Lamination resulted in the most layers that then created air pockets, witch create a flakier dough.
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?
Science and cooking are similar in that both are the practice of creating an idea than obtaining results. In science the idea is a desired result that we then use known ingredients and procedures to gain an understanding of how we achieve that desired result. In cooking we strive to use a the optimal method to create a desired product. Science and cooking both ways of trying to understand why something works and what is the best way to make it work. A scientist aims to understand why something happens and chef aims to use their understanding to produce the optimal results.
Science and cooking are different because science is the process of learning why and what is happening unlike cooking witch typically revolves around taste only. Chefs don't care to discover why their food taste good only that it dose. A scientist aims to understand why something happens and a chef aims to produce the best food. This is why combining the two ideas is optimal in the kitchen.
Chemistry of Construction: Watching Paint Dry
Psychology
By Abby
Have you ever wondered why color has such an effect on your mood? Color is more than just visual candy. It actually has a psychological impact that can radically affect your mood and emotion. For example, blue is a calming cool color, while yellow is often associated with happiness and warmth. People who prefer blue are often taken as trustworthy, loyal, friendly and strong. People who prefer yellow are often taken as someone who is attracted to what’s new and modern. They also tend to bring a sunny, positive feeling to the space, without being overwhelming.
Different shades of color can also affect your mood. The four basic color groups are pale, neutrals, whites, and deeps. Pale color usually creates an environment comfortable and easy to live in. These colors consist of lavender, ballet pink, and sky blue. Shifting to neutral, the colors go beyond those blacks and browns and become more of an earthy vibe such as slate, clay and ochre. Leading into those mesmerizing whites, whites can feel moden, classy, or anywhere in between. The shades of white you may consider using are cream, eggshell, ivory, navajo white, vanilla, etc. These shades may be ideal, providing they complement any style. Deeps are often a more bold choice of color. Violet, ruby, Onyx, etc. They even have bold names. A deep background can create depth in a room and often fill the room with energy.
Interestingly, color affects brain waves, the nervous system and hormonal activity which then leads to various emotions. Warm colors like red, yellow and orange evoke higher arousal emotions, such as love, passion, happiness, and anger. Cool colors, like blue, green and purple are linked to calmness, sadness and indifference. Colors can trigger these arousal states and emotions. Colors in longer wavelengths are more stimulating to the human brain. This of course means that colors of longer wavelength have a higher effect on your emotions, since our eyes see these colors stronger. The spectrum of light is a good example of this fact. Colors like red, orange and yellow have the longest wavelength while colors like blue, green, and violet have the shortest. Because of these different wavelengths, we react differently to warm and cool colors.
“European doctor Ponza conducted various experiments in 1875 by using colored glass, walls and furniture in various rooms. The colors Ponza used were red and blue. A man refusing to eat for days started desiring food. An aggressive patient in a blue room calmed down in a period of one hour.”
As for the physical effects, exposure to high stimuli can cause changes in breathing pattern, pulse, blood pressure and muscle tension. On the other hand, too little stimuli can lead to anxiousness, sleeplessness, excessive emotional reaction, loss of concentration and nervousness. For example, a completely white environment leads to lack of stimulus and this, contrary to expectations, does not cause a balanced or neutral effect.
Work Cited
http://renketkisi.com/en/psychology-and-color.html
https://neurofied.com/effects-of-color-on-behavior/
https://www.benjaminmoorecanmore.ca/the-psychology-of-colour
https://www.ducksters.com/science/light_spectrum.ph
Chemistry
By James
Have you ever watched paint dry? Pretty boring right? Well that was our job for this project. We were given the task of exploring the chemistry behind paint drying, as well as explaining what paint is the most sustainable and why for our new school. You might find it surprising to know that paint drying is actually quite interesting.
Paint is based on 3 primary parts, Binder, Solvent, and Pigment. The Binder is made of polymers such as resin, the Pigment is what gives paint its color, and the Solvent, which is primarily water.
When looking at the paint at a microscopic level when it dries, the solvent (water) evaporates and exposes binder to oxygen. This allows the polymer strands of the binder to stick together with the use of the chemical bonds forming a larger stable network. The paint’s binder is also responsible for a lot of the properties for paint such as weather resistance, fade resistance and cleanability. The interaction between the pigment and the binder cause the pigment to be pushed to the surface.
The pigments for paint are actually finely ground ionic compounds most of which are oxides. Lots of times there are at least 3 metals that go into giving paint its color. For example a bronze looking paint would contain copper which would give a coppery green hue to the paint, titanium dioxide is used to give paint it’s gloss, and iron which gives the paint its red hue.
The solvent is made of mostly water. Due to this, it keeps the polymers from forming microscopic structures that would make the paint become solid, This allows the paint to remain in a liquid form for application.
Sustainability
By Lucy
Whilst designing and constructing the new Animas high school campus sustainability has been a major concern in all aspects of the building from cleaning products to the basic building structure. Our group researched what type of paint will be ideal in the new campus. When deciding what paint to use in a highschool, sustainability should be considered in two senses. The paint chosen should be environmentally sustainable and non-toxic to occupants.
In my research I have found that recycled, natural, and bio based paints are sustainable in both senses. Companies like Kelly Moore, Dunn Edwards, and Metro Paint have been making recycled paints for up to 15 years. They do this by mixing 50% newly produced paint with 50% recycled paint. Recycled paints are beneficial for the environment because they use paint that would otherwise become waste. Using this method results in less overall waste but unfortunately is only used with water based paint, which are significantly much less durable than oil based paints.
Other companies like Sherwin Williams are also making efforts towards sustainability by using alternative oils as bases like sunflower and soybean as well as using resin containing recycled plastic bottles. Paints made with alternative oils have the benefits of being non toxic whilst remaining durable like traditional oil based paints, this makes them optimal for a high traffic area like a highschool. Unlike traditional oil paints that release volatile organic compounds as they dry, alternative oil paints release minimal harmful compounds like ethanol, benzene, and xylene. As well as being less toxic these paints reduce plastic bottle waste by repurposing the materials to create resin that binds the paint together.
Moving forward in the construction of the new Animas High School campus the use of bio or recycled paint should be considered to reduce our environmental impact, create a non toxic, and durable environment. Paint not only brings color into our world but also makes our buildings and walls stronger. Although often overlooked the paint choice is critically important when designing and constructing any structure.
Work CIted
Curtland, Christopher. “Green Sustainable Paint Solutions.” Buildings, 20 July 2012, https://www.buildings.com/articles/31310/green-sustainable-paint-solutions.
“Supporting Sustainable Citizenship - One Community Weekly Progress Update #315.” One Community, 17 Apr. 2020, https://www.onecommunityglobal.org/supporting-sustainable-citizenship/.
Daniel Loeschen. “How Paint Is Made: Paint Ingredients and Manufacturing.” Mixer Direct, 27 June 2019, https://www.mixerdirect.com/blogs/mixer-direct-blog/how-paint-is-made.
Essential Questions
How does the structure of matter on the atomic, molecular, microscopic and macroscopic levels determine its physical, chemical and biological properties with emphasis on their use in building construction?
How do the design of a building, selection of building materials, construction process and use of a building affect the overall sustainability of a building project and the user experience in the building?
How do the design of a building, selection of building materials, construction process and use of a building affect the overall sustainability of a building project and the user experience in the building?
Project Reflection
Question #1: What new information did you learn through doing this project? I am interested in 1-2 paragraphs summarizing your new understanding of your topic. I am particularly interested in your new understanding about the two Essential Questions(located at the bottom of this document).
Throughout the duration of this project I researched paint, what makes it sustainable, how it is made chemically, and the psychological effects it can have on humans. What I found most interesting was sustainability. I learned paint can be sustainably made in two ways, it can be recycled or made with non toxic ingredients.
Paint can be recycled in two ways, it can be redistributed to be used as a finish or it can be shipped to facilities where it is used for testing or energy recovery. Latex or water based paints are typically repurposed as coatings while oil based paints are used as a supplement to natural energy resources. This is due to the chemistry of oil based that makes them more difficult to work with. Furthermore paint can be sustainable by being made of non toxic ingredients for example soybean oil, sunflower oil, and resin content plastic bottles. Making paint sustainability has become so interesting to me specifically because I am an artist and do care greatly about being as sustainable as possible. This research has opened my eyes to how I can lessen my impact on the planet by using sustainability in all aspects of my life.
Question #2: What new skills, dispositions, or lessons did you learn from this project?
My greatest gain from this project is understanding how I can personally improve my experience working in group situations. I chose to work in a group with two people, one of whom I know I enjoy working with and the other not so much. I originally wanted to work in a group of two but ended up working in a larger group. I struggled with this because my group members approached the assignment very differently than I typically would. Instead of just doing what needed to be done we had numerous conversations where I heard complaints about how the project was worth too many points, along with how we didn't have enough time, and teacher assistance. Hearing my group members complain about this and how I was not completing my work fast enough made me more inclined to do nothing, bringing down our whole project. The more my group became frustrated with my work ethic the less I did. Working on this project in a group has been my worst group experience yet. To avoid more negative group experience I will work alone if possible, collaborate with peers I know I work well with, or be more open to my peers' concerns. I know being more understanding will greatly improve future group work.
Question #3: Next year I intend to repeat this project, with a major difference being that several student projects will actually be permanently installed in the new building. As part of the project, I intend to have this year’s juniors (aka YOU) present their prototypes to next year’s juniors as a starting point for the project. As I begin planning for next year’s fall semester and project work, what can I do to make the learning experience as engaging and meaningful as possible for those students?
I generally really enjoyed this project. I thought the content was engaging and I enjoyed the hands on learning specifically the concrete pucks. I also found it very helpful when the exhibit designer spoke to us, next year speaking to him earlier in the project creation could be helpful.
Throughout the duration of this project I researched paint, what makes it sustainable, how it is made chemically, and the psychological effects it can have on humans. What I found most interesting was sustainability. I learned paint can be sustainably made in two ways, it can be recycled or made with non toxic ingredients.
Paint can be recycled in two ways, it can be redistributed to be used as a finish or it can be shipped to facilities where it is used for testing or energy recovery. Latex or water based paints are typically repurposed as coatings while oil based paints are used as a supplement to natural energy resources. This is due to the chemistry of oil based that makes them more difficult to work with. Furthermore paint can be sustainable by being made of non toxic ingredients for example soybean oil, sunflower oil, and resin content plastic bottles. Making paint sustainability has become so interesting to me specifically because I am an artist and do care greatly about being as sustainable as possible. This research has opened my eyes to how I can lessen my impact on the planet by using sustainability in all aspects of my life.
Question #2: What new skills, dispositions, or lessons did you learn from this project?
My greatest gain from this project is understanding how I can personally improve my experience working in group situations. I chose to work in a group with two people, one of whom I know I enjoy working with and the other not so much. I originally wanted to work in a group of two but ended up working in a larger group. I struggled with this because my group members approached the assignment very differently than I typically would. Instead of just doing what needed to be done we had numerous conversations where I heard complaints about how the project was worth too many points, along with how we didn't have enough time, and teacher assistance. Hearing my group members complain about this and how I was not completing my work fast enough made me more inclined to do nothing, bringing down our whole project. The more my group became frustrated with my work ethic the less I did. Working on this project in a group has been my worst group experience yet. To avoid more negative group experience I will work alone if possible, collaborate with peers I know I work well with, or be more open to my peers' concerns. I know being more understanding will greatly improve future group work.
Question #3: Next year I intend to repeat this project, with a major difference being that several student projects will actually be permanently installed in the new building. As part of the project, I intend to have this year’s juniors (aka YOU) present their prototypes to next year’s juniors as a starting point for the project. As I begin planning for next year’s fall semester and project work, what can I do to make the learning experience as engaging and meaningful as possible for those students?
I generally really enjoyed this project. I thought the content was engaging and I enjoyed the hands on learning specifically the concrete pucks. I also found it very helpful when the exhibit designer spoke to us, next year speaking to him earlier in the project creation could be helpful.