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Science Fair Help
Moderators: AmyCowen, kgudger, MadelineB, Moderators
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deleted-299731
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2017 8:42 am
- Occupation: Student
Science Fair Help
Hello, how are are you doing today? My science fair project is based on which cooking method (baking, grilling, or pan frying) will reach the proper temperature of chicken, pork, or beef the fastest. I'm asking for help because I don't exactly know how to shape this project. So I ask that you will please help me on this. Thank You!!!
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SciB
- Expert
- Posts: 2071
- Joined: Fri Feb 01, 2013 7:00 am
- Occupation: Retired molecular biologist, university researcher and teacher
- Project Question: I wish to join Scibuddies to be able to help students achieve the best science project possible and to understand the science behind it.
- Project Due Date: n/a
- Project Status: Not applicable
Re: Science Fair Help
Yumm! Sounds like a delicious project.
How do you set up the project? It seems like it would be simple. All you would need is a good meat thermometer and a timer. I think the problems are gonna be in setting up the cooking conditions and obtaining identical cuts of meat. You might want to just try one type of meat first, like hamburger, which would be easy to make all the same size as patties.
I have one idea and maybe other experts will know how to do it, but it would seem that what would work best would be a digital thermometer that could be put inside the hamburger patty and give you a continuous reading of the temperature. Then all you have to do is start the timer and watch the thermometer. Is this even possible?
Other experts--do you know if this can be done? Any other suggestions?
Sybee
How do you set up the project? It seems like it would be simple. All you would need is a good meat thermometer and a timer. I think the problems are gonna be in setting up the cooking conditions and obtaining identical cuts of meat. You might want to just try one type of meat first, like hamburger, which would be easy to make all the same size as patties.
I have one idea and maybe other experts will know how to do it, but it would seem that what would work best would be a digital thermometer that could be put inside the hamburger patty and give you a continuous reading of the temperature. Then all you have to do is start the timer and watch the thermometer. Is this even possible?
Other experts--do you know if this can be done? Any other suggestions?
Sybee
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deleted-370050
- Former Expert
- Posts: 50
- Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2016 4:41 pm
- Occupation: Student
Re: Science Fair Help
Hi PrinceE,
This is an interesting project! It sounds like you are investigating which cooking method cooks the meat the fastest. You already have your independent variable (cooking method) and dependent variable (time it takes for the meat to cook), and now you have to come up with control variables. For example, the amount of meat you cook and the shape of the meat must be the same for each of the different cooking methods you use, as these factors can affect cooking time. A simple design for your project would be carrying out 3 different experiments for each type of meat, starting with chicken, pork, then beef. Starting with chicken, you would cut 3 pieces of meat, of equal weight and shape, and perform each of the 3 cooking methods, one after the other. You would want to time how long it takes for the meat to cook, as indicated by lack of rawness (meat isn’t pink), which you could check by using a meat thermometer. You could use a stopwatch and record the time on a piece of paper. Repeat this process for each type of meat. Ideally you would want multiple trials for each cooking method on each type of meat, so you can average the time it takes for the meat to cook, which will improve the accuracy of your results. Other variables you should control are the brand of the meat, the cut of meat, temperature of the oven/grill/stove, and how long the meat is out before cooking.
Hope this helps!
~Catherine M.
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EDIT
The other expert's advice to use a digital thermometer is a great idea! There are affordable digital thermometers on Amazon/ Lowe's.
This is an interesting project! It sounds like you are investigating which cooking method cooks the meat the fastest. You already have your independent variable (cooking method) and dependent variable (time it takes for the meat to cook), and now you have to come up with control variables. For example, the amount of meat you cook and the shape of the meat must be the same for each of the different cooking methods you use, as these factors can affect cooking time. A simple design for your project would be carrying out 3 different experiments for each type of meat, starting with chicken, pork, then beef. Starting with chicken, you would cut 3 pieces of meat, of equal weight and shape, and perform each of the 3 cooking methods, one after the other. You would want to time how long it takes for the meat to cook, as indicated by lack of rawness (meat isn’t pink), which you could check by using a meat thermometer. You could use a stopwatch and record the time on a piece of paper. Repeat this process for each type of meat. Ideally you would want multiple trials for each cooking method on each type of meat, so you can average the time it takes for the meat to cook, which will improve the accuracy of your results. Other variables you should control are the brand of the meat, the cut of meat, temperature of the oven/grill/stove, and how long the meat is out before cooking.
Hope this helps!
~Catherine M.
----
EDIT
The other expert's advice to use a digital thermometer is a great idea! There are affordable digital thermometers on Amazon/ Lowe's.
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deleted-299731
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2017 8:42 am
- Occupation: Student
Re: Science Fair Help
Thank you so much. I do have another question about my project, is it possible for me to have multiple hypotheses for my project.