Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

can i use a tong to submerge the muffin under water using a graduated cylinder? because the muffin is so light that it floats, and also which flour would make a poppyseed muffin fluffiest? in order from fluffiest to least fluffy - cake, unbleached all purpose, soy, bread and whole wheat flour? thank you.

Yes, you can use something like tongs to submerge a muffin to determine its volume--just make sure that you do not press the tongs down too far, or you will also be measuring the volume of the tongs!

If you haven't already thought of this, you might consider wrapping the muffin in a small layer of plastic wrap first so that the muffin does not dissolve and water does not get into the spaces inside the muffin. If water gets in, you will not really be measuring the volume of the muffin.

I don't know what flour would make a muffin the fluffiest; my guess is that flour would have little impact on that and that the amount of baking soda/powder would have a much greater effect. Still, I suggest you do an experiment to find out--it sounds as if you already have a good method to measure fluffiness!