Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi! Im doing an experiment on which lotio keeps your skin moist longer using jELL-O as the human skin. Im stuck you guys. Im not sure if im supposed to leave the petri dish out or put it back in the refrigator because its melting and im getting worried helpppp!!!!

Hi syeria_alvarado,

Are you doing this project?
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p015.shtml

If you are having problems with the Jello melting, you should probably put it in the fridge. Since evaporation is important for this project, it would be best for the petri dishes to be uncovered and on a shelf where they can get plenty of air.

If your gelatin is melting you certainly have to do something about that. I'd caution you that a refrigerator is very often down near 10% humidity and will suck the moisture out of your gelatin in no time. If you don't have a cool place to run your experiment (corner of an unheated basement??) then you may not have any choice. Just make sure you account for that in the discussion of your results. The moisturizers should certainly help even in that harsh environment even though the whole experiment may just go a lot faster.

Another possibility might be to try making the gelatin extra solid by using a recipe more like 'jigglers'. That would also affect your results but perhaps not as severely as putting the dishes in a dessicating environment.

Howard