Finding fats in foods experiment

This was an experiment that I went in expecting one set of results and ended up with completely different results.  So our finding fats in foods experiment was a resounding success of a science lesson, just not because of what I expected, which made for a great discussion for our anatomy class.

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As we went through the chapter on nutrition the kids were really interested to find many of the things they thought you HAD to eat weren’t true.  They were especially intrigued to find out we need some fats in foods, not extremely a lot, but at least some.

Findings fats in foods experiment supplies:

paper bag, printable (found on the subscriber page, join my newsletter), several different foods (we used: cheese, peanut butter, sausage, apple, bread, cracker, grape), something to write

This was from our Apologia Anatomy textbook

Finding fats in foods experiment procedure:

1.   Cut off a strip from the paper bag and lay it straight on your table (the paper bag best absorbs the oils).
2. Put your chosen foods on the paper and write down what they are (this just helps for the process later).
3.   Make your predictions for the results.
4.   Wait several hours, during that time occasionally observe what is going on, and make revisions based on observations.

Results of our finding fats in foods experiment

In the end, we discovered peanut butter has a lot of fats in it.  I was rather surprised the sausage and cheese, which are both fatty foods, did not show up as much.  As I talked it over with Jeff we both realized it’s the makeup of the food.  The fats in the cheese and sausage are much more tied to other things in their solid state, but if we’d melted the cheese it would have shown different results.  Here’s an online discussion about why fats turn paper transparent, which I found rather interesting.

Future Ticia 2023 who just finished updating this post, wants to say this was such a fun science experiment and it’s really hilarious I’m updating it right now because the kids have been talking about the time they attempted to make me a salami omelet. It is just as disgusting as it sounds because you just take salami slices and heat it up, leaving the grease all over the plate.

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