three steps forward, two steps back: Food Experiment

I have been looking forward to take the boys camping this summer, and have been looking up fun recipes to take with us. One that looked fun was a popcorn packet recipe. It called for 1 teaspoon of oil and one Tablespoon of un-popped popcorn to be wrapped in a 4 inch square of tinfoil that is hung over the campfire.

I was pretty sure that the size of the tinfoil must have been misprinted. I wanted to know what a better size would bes, and thought it might be a fun experiment for me and the boys to do.

I cut the foil in 4 inch squares (small), 6 inch squares (medium, and 12 inch squares (big). We used a muffin tin to make a little cup shape, then Jack put in the popcorn and Owen put in the oil.

I explained that we were going to put the packets over a flame to heat up the popcorn and make it pot. I asked the boys which packet they thought would end up with more popcorn after it was heated. Both boys thought that more popcorn could pop in the big packet. Owen said it was because there was more space in the bigger packet.

Jack was sure the bigger one would have more popcorn “because there is more popcorn in the bigger packet.” Even though I had made a big deal about how all the packets were the SAME except for the size of the tinfoil (hoping the concept of variables would be planted in their heads) – this explanation was not cutting it for Jack. Even after I asked him if he put more popcorn in the big pack (he said no) he was still convinced that big packet must have more popcorn. I guess three-year-olds aren’t ready for a lesson on variables. (Maybe next time I will focus on Conservation of Matter…)

so, we hung up one of each size packet from a string and hung them from a long skewer to hang over the heat.

As I was about to move on to heating the packets over a burner, Owen suddenly ran outside. I told him that I didn’t want to light the fire pit for this experiment, and he yelled back, “Oh, that’s fine, I was just going to rub two rocks together.” Oh, ok. He came in a few minutes later saying that he wasn’t sure how to do it without help… we tried the stovetop instead.

Very quickly, the small packet’s string burned off. The medium one burned off after about a minute. The large packet lasted much longer, but the foil did briefly catch on fire. The fire went out quickly, but, I decided that should probably be the end of the cooking part…

Before we could analyze the results, I had to stop fire alarm that was raging – by opening windows and fanning the smoke detector. (This happens so often – because the thing is sensitive, NOT because I burn things! - that I swear my kids are going to wake up to a fire alarm in the house at night, and run downstairs to fan the smoke alarm with a kitchen towel!!)

Anyway, here are the results:

Owen: In the small packet – there’s none to eat. The middle one has a few- I think 3 or 4, and the big was has lots to eat. (he tries a piece) But I think they all need butter to taste good, and I think we should use the twirly popcorn maker to make a lot more if we are going to have all of us camping...