Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

IS THIS A GOOD HYPOTHESIS....
I have observed that lemon juice will keep an apple from browning. Are there other substances commonly found in the kitchen that are more effective than lemon juice in keeping an apple from turning brown?

Hi there!

This is not a bad start. It would be even better if you could come up with a more specific hypothesis. Hint, is there some property of lemon juice that you might find in other kitchen items that might help you form a hypothesis about which substances will prevent browning and which will not?

Have you looked at the Science Buddies page on Hypotheses: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... hypothesis ?

Cheers,
Colin

Thanks for your insight.... we have done more work on this and have come up with the following....

Purpose:
What substance will keep my apple from turning brown in my lunch?

Hypothesis:
I have learned in my research that oxygen reacts with the enzymes in an apple to turn it brown. If I can coat my apple slices with a commonly found food substance they will not turn brown.

Are we getting close?????

Thanks so much for your help!!!!!!

"Hypothesis:
I have learned in my research that oxygen reacts with the enzymes in an apple to turn it brown. If I can coat my apple slices with a commonly found food substance they will not turn brown."

This is even better! However, I still think that you can refine this a bit. You already know that lemon juice works. Lemon juice is acidic and has antioxidant properties. I can name several other food items that fit one or both of those descriptions: tea (acidic and antioxidant), tomato juice (acidic and antioxidant), olive oil (antioxidant), coffee (acidic and antioxidant), Orange juice (acidic and antioxidant), vinegar (primarily acidic). On the other hand, things like milk, water, soda water, are not. You could hypothesize that one or more of these substances will also prevent browning based on their known properties while other will not. You could also switch it up a bit and hypothesize that lemon juice will also prevent browning of other food items, like potatoes.

Here are some other resources that may help: http://www.education.com/science-fair/a ... ing-brown/
http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... urn-brown/

Cheers,
Colin