Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

[Note: These "interview" questions are being posted on behalf of a parent/student preparing an 8th grade research paper.]

For background information, she will be working with heating different types
of nuts (unshelled, salted & unsalted). By heating the nuts, her project
hypothesis will possibly result in heating a small can of water.

Interview:
-What is your favorite thing to do in science?
-Why do you like science?
-My science project is on the Power of Peanuts. I will try to heat water
through the heat of a peanut - both salted and unsalted. Do you think that
peanuts or any other type of a nut will heat water?
-If yes, why do you think this will work?
-Do you think that the salt will affect peanuts being able to heat the water?

Have fun with this project. Here are my answers to your questions.


-What is your favorite thing to do in science?
I like most to collect and analyze data. It's fun to see how all the small pieces of data fit together like a jig saw puzzle to help reveal the answer to a hypothesis.

-Why do you like science?
It explains things all around us and the scientific method provides a good way to solve problems in life that aren't scientific.

-My science project is on the Power of Peanuts. I will try to heat water
through the heat of a peanut - both salted and unsalted. Do you think that
peanuts or any other type of a nut will heat water?
Definitely - YES. All nuts contain high levels of oils. Oils contain lots of calories and burn readily. It's the high calorie content that will make it easy to heat water - especially if your burn the nuts.

-If yes, why do you think this will work?
See above.

-Do you think that the salt will affect peanuts being able to heat the water?
I'm pretty sure you will find the salt will not contribute to the heating of the water to any level that you can measure. The calorie content of salt is VERY low. However, if you use a chemical process to extract the heat of the nuts, the salt may allow you to extract a bit more heat.

I hope this helps.

Ed Neu
Buffalo, MN

amyc wrote:[Note: These "interview" questions are being posted on behalf of a parent/student preparing an 8th grade research paper.]

Hi, amyc! Nice to see student and parent working together!

amyc wrote:For background information, she will be working with heating different types of nuts (unshelled, salted & unsalted). By heating the nuts, her project hypothesis will possibly result in heating a small can of water.

Since you wrote, "heating different types of nuts," I'm going to assume that you are going to heat the nuts and then somehow try to transfer their heat to the can of water. It doesn't sound like you are going to burn the nuts to generate the heat. It sounds like you are going to heat the nuts somehow prior to exposing them to the can of water. If I'm wrong, please let me know.

amyc wrote:Interview:
-What is your favorite thing to do in science?

I like to think of science as solving problems. Therefore, my favorite thing to do in science is to investigate the "why" behind something. I want to understand how it works so that I can utilize it.

amyc wrote:-Why do you like science?

All branches of science (and math!) teach us how to solve problems. I am a problem-solver at heart.

amyc wrote:-My science project is on the Power of Peanuts. I will try to heat water
through the heat of a peanut - both salted and unsalted. Do you think that
peanuts or any other type of a nut will heat water?

This is where my assumption of how you will use heat comes in. I think that the heated nuts will transfer their heat to the water as long as their temperature is higher than that of the water.

amyc wrote:-If yes, why do you think this will work?

Physics. Heat will always flow from a warmer object to a cooler object.

amyc wrote:-Do you think that the salt will affect peanuts being able to heat the water?

Yes, but you may not be able to measure it. I think the salted nuts will carry a bit more heat, but it will be such a small amount compared to the heat held by the higher-mass peanut that its effect will be negligible.

Best wishes for success on your project!