Welcome to the forum. I moved your topic to the physical sciences forum where more experts will see it, since 'preparing for the science fair' is geared toward presenting your research after you've finished your project.
You can probably look up the densities of the various oils you mention; try using a search engine such as Google or Yahoo. It's also not that difficult to measure density directly -- all you need to do is accurately measure the mass and volume of some amount of oil! See this thread for some discussion: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentorin ... =24&t=3850
Applying the principles of chemistry and physics to cooking, as you're interested in doing, is becoming more popular. Try searching for "molecular gastronomy" for lots of interesting background info.
I am not an expert in baking myself, but it would seem like different oils impart different tastes and textures, not so much differing in the height that cupcakes rise to. On the other hand, say, if you did not use eggs, then the cupcakes would probably not rise as much. Hope this helps!
"There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere." -Isaac Asimov
Do you know anything on does the oil effect the rising of bread?
Another one is does it effect how high the flour rises with different oils?
are things that you could design an experiment to answer, especially if you don't find precise answers anywhere! I suggest putting "bread chemistry" and "baking science" into a search engine and looking at some of the results. You could also look through our list of food-related project ideas:
Hi Christina - It sounds like you are working on an interesting science project, but that maybe you need to spend some time doing some research. For example, your questions about whether or not oil expands when heated will be part of your background research for the project. Have you tried searching to see if you can find answers to this question?
We look forward to watching your project develop and seeing the outcome of your testing. If you have questions about your procedure or results as you move forward, please post here.
As most liquids are heated, they expand little by little. (At some high temperature they begin to evaporate, or they might burn, which is a reaction with oxygen in the air.) The exact amount of expansion depends on the exact temperature, so I'm not surprised that you've seen this represented with a mathematical expression or formula. It sounds like maybe the problem is that you aren't sure how to use this formula? If you post it here, preferably with a link to the source that it came from, we can help you understand how to use it.
Something you might also want to think about is that the rising of most baked goods is due to expanding gas bubbles that come from leavening agents. Basic info here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leavening) but searching for "leavening agent" would be a good idea. As temperature increases, gases expand more quickly than liquids.
Are you talking about that paper that when you are done cooking the cupcakes they are in the paper thing?
I think they are called "baking cups" according to my mom's thing.
If you're concerned about how to describe them in your project report in a way that others will understand, you could always include an image or a diagram.
/-/https/www.sciencebuddies.org/cdn/Files/21464/5/sb-logo.png){kind=logo}
/-/https/www.sciencebuddies.org/cdn/Files/21464/5/sb-logo.png){kind=logo}
