Feel the Burn: Energy Content in Food

CSEF · 2009 Chemistry

Overview

Objectives/Goals The original hypothesis had stated that 5% more fat would lead to a higher caloric content. The researcher had hoped to prove this through experimentation. Methods/Materials The method that had been used to receive results had been, and is commonly known as, the bomb calorimeter method. This is where food is completely oxidized to receive a reading. The calorimeter has been constructed using materials at hand; this is also true for the balance that was made. These include k#nex, wood, beakers, small heat resistant bowls, wire, and a nail to hold the food sample while it was being burned. Results When experimenting, the water that would give the results had an average rise in water temperature of 9.46 degrees Celsius. This was the average of all the foods that had been tested. All of the cereals had been tested the same way. Conclusions/Discussion After experimentation was complete, all of the results pointed to the statement that fat has a major impact on the amount of calories that are within a food.

Summary statement

Through many trials in the area of energy content in foods, it has become apparent that fat does cause food to have more calories per gram or per serving than non fat food.

Help received

Help Received by my Dad, Buddy Iannone Supervised use of open flame.

Competition history

  • CSEF 2009 Chemistry · Entry J0517

Resources

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

Source: California Science & Engineering Fair public projects

Save projects to your library

Sign in with Google to keep track of projects you find interesting, organized into folders. An account also raises your daily allowance for “Has this been done?”, and lets you create a key for the MCP server with a much higher limit than anonymous use. Browsing stays public.

Continue with Google