Pop It Like It's Hot!

We did our popcorn experiment today.  Just in time too!  The school board came in for their annual observation day.  They were scheduled to come at 1:45pm.  Unfortunately, since it's at the end of the day, not much is happening.  Normally we'd be doing art at that point, but I moved some stuff around so we could do our experiment while they were here. 


Before we could pop the corn, we did a graph ranking the popcorn on price.  I had noticed the packages weren't the same amount of ounces, so we made a category for that too.  HyVee brand was in the lead at $1.67 for a pack of three 3.3oz packages.  Orville was at the bottom with $3.68 for a pack of 2.9oz packages.  We also had Pop-Secret and Jolly Time which had about the same price and size (3.2oz). 


After going over the instructions one more time, we trekked down to the microwave in the kitchen to pop the bags.  To keep the temperature of the microwave constant, we did a practice bag.  Orville was the chosen practice bag and after 2 minutes of popping time (another constant), the smell of burnt popcorn filled the air.  Our first adjustment!  We changed the popping time to 1 minute 30 seconds so the popcorn wouldn't be burnt. 


Everyone popped their designated bag and we dumped the contents into separate bowls (or piles) so they could be judged on looks.  By now, the 5th graders were showing some bias as to which bag was the best (obviously their own bag), so we had to recruit the school board members and Ms. J and Ms. H.  After ranking them on looks, we got to do the taste test!  Again, we recruited others (10 total) and Orville and Pop-Secret tied for best tasting. 


The last step was to count the unpopped kernels.  Sigh.  For some reason, the 5th graders had a hard time with this.  But we got them counted!  Results: Orville- 46, HyVee- 132, Pop-Secret- 136, Jolly Time- 146.  I think with a longer popping time, the other three brands would've popped more kernels.


We ran out of time to discuss our findings.  That's all right!  Analyzing the results is a separate step anyway.  I keep asking my 5th graders if they've begun their own science fair projects.  Only one out of 4 has.  *Wince*  The one who's started already is doing hers on which bread molds the fastest.  Another 5th grader is doing the freezing point of pop, so his won't take too long.  One of them is making sugar crystals... another is building a Stirling engine.  Those are the two I'm most worried about.  I hope they start them soon!!!