need expert hellp..

chrissybballx3 · Post by **chrissybballx3** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:47 pm

My science fair project this year is to determine which fruit will have a greater dehydration rate and which fruit will have the greatest amount of weight loss.
I am in the 8th grade.
I need an expert in this field to help me out with a few questions.

Please post back if there is anyone who is an expert in this field and I will post the questions.

thank.you soo.much

geoffbruton · Post by **geoffbruton** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:28 pm

Hi Chrissy,

I'm not sure if you'll find an expert in the specific field of "fruit dehydration," but please don't hesitate to post your questions to the forum.

We'll do the best we can!

Good luck,
Geoff.

chrissybballx3 · Post by **chrissybballx3** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:50 pm

i mean like an expert in the field of food sciences or anything really in microbiology.

thankss

geoffbruton · Post by **geoffbruton** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:51 pm

I understand. Please just go ahead and post your questions, and we'll see what we can do to help.

Best wishes,
Geoff.

chrissybballx3 · Post by **chrissybballx3** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:57 pm

ookay....

-what is the average rate of dehydration rate of fruits using a conventional oven?

-should i keep record of the weight of each slice after every hour, or would that be too hard?

-what type of tray should i use?

-is using a cookie sheet on top of the tray good enough?

and uhhh....i cant think of anything elsee. but if you do have any more information i need to do this project, please do say so in your next post.

Craig_Bridge · Post by **Craig_Bridge** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 3:31 pm

what is the average rate of dehydration rate of fruits using a conventional oven?

Going back to basic physics, I would expect several factors such as oven temperature, skin integrity, amount of water before you start, the humidity, the size and geometry of the sample, and probably a lot more. This means that averaging over different kinds of fruits maybe meaningless. The whole reason for doing experiments is to find out these kinds of things. Try reading the links on https://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentorin ... ndex.shtml under getting started to learn about the scientific method and some tips on choosing your scientific question (Hypothesis).

Weighing your samples at various points in time will enable you to plot weight change over time if that is part of what you need to answer your "scientific question". By doing it on individual samples you will get independent sample data that statistics can be applied to if that is important to answering your question; however, you need to figure out what to control (maybe things like starting shape and size) between samples in the same set. But it really depends on what question(s) you are trying to answer scientifically.

Until you come up with and refine your "scientific question", thinking too much about proceedues is getting things a bit out of order.

Craig_Bridge · Post by **Craig_Bridge** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 3:35 pm

Oops, left out something...

Going back to basic physics..., and probably a lot more [ to affect your results ].

chrissybballx3 · Post by **chrissybballx3** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:35 pm

ookay..yeah soo idk really knoow which category my project should be in..soo yeah.i need just a tiiny bit more help.

thanks.so.muchh

geoffbruton · Post by **geoffbruton** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:45 pm

Hi Chrissy,

I think this category of the forum is where you need to be posting your questions.

Craig pretty much covered all of the bases in what you need to do in order to focus your question and science fair project and to ultimately formulate your hypothesis. Once you have decided upon the variables - and please post them here once you have determined what they are - it will be easier for you to decide how to proceed.

The bottom line is that once you have decided which is which, you change only one of them (keeping everything else constant), in order to be able to draw any meaningful conclusions. If you haven't had the opportunity yet, I suggest you read over the Science Fair Project Guide link provided by Science Buddies (https://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentorin ... ndex.shtml). This will definitely help you figure out what you need to do!

Once you have answered these questions more fully, please be sure to post your specific questions back to us.

Many thanks, and good luck!
Geoff.

chrissybballx3 · Post by **chrissybballx3** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:54 pm

i mean like physics, biology, botany etccc...
which one would fruit dehydration fall under?

Craig_Bridge · Post by **Craig_Bridge** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 5:04 pm

Your topic fits "Life, Earth, and Social Sciences" as well as any forum. Since you started the thread here, keep it here!

tdaly · Post by **tdaly** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 1:35 pm

chrissybballx,

Since your project is studying the dehydration of various fruits, I would recommend entering your project in the physics or chemistry category because dehydration is related to the physical and chemical makeup of the various fruits. Think about what your dependent variable is. Are you changing the shape, structure, etc of the fruit piece or are you changing the composition of the fruit piece (e.g. different shapes of the same fruit vs. different kinds of fruit). Thinking about you variables will help you decide which category is most appropriate.

adance · Post by **adance** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 9:42 am

Hi Chrissy,

i think a number of the questions you posted can be answered by you in your experiment. Before doing the grand experiment, scientists often do small-scale "pilot" experiments to figure out the best conditions to use, such as what kind of tray works best.

By doing the experiment, you can determine the average rate of dehydration for different fruits. Yes, to get a rate you will have to follow it over time, in your pilot experiments you can try different time intervals to figure out what gives you the data you need and is still easy for you to do.

Scronjsn11 · Post by **Scronjsn11** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 10:55 am

try using a local Junior College instructor for help as well..

chrissybballx3 · Post by **chrissybballx3** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 6:20 pm

i actually need an expert in this field...but does anyone know where i can find an e-mail to someone..and contact them to answer a few questions. because i need an actual expert to count for my "contacts" section of my project.

any ideass?