Read the entire lesson including the questions before you begin. You will probably want to make yourself a chart to record your observations.
You will need:
Two medium sized apples
Six cups
Lemon juice
Baking soda
Cooking oil
Water
A method to boil water
This lesson will take a couple of days to complete. First take two medium sized apples and wash them. Be sure to wash them and dry them off before you cut them. Then cut each apple and take twelve equal sized pieces. You also need to get six separate cups.
Put two apple slices in one cup without doing anything to them. The only things that should have touched these wedges are your knife and your fingers (try to keep from touching them too much so as not to taint your results). These will be your control apples, to let you see what happens to plain apples under these conditions.
For your second set of two apple slices, get some lemon juice (either directly from a lemon or sold as juice, either is fine) and make sure each apple slice is coated, but not actually sitting in liquid. (You want to coat each slice with the juice.) Be sure to wash your hands afterwards to get rid of the lemon juice on your fingers.
For your third set of apple slices, mix baking soda and water until the baking soda is dissolved, and coat your apple slices in this solution, and place them in their cup.
For your fourth set of apple slices, coat each in cooking oil, and place them in their cup.
For your fifth set of apple slices, cook them by dropping them in boiling water for five minutes. You can boil the water either on the stove-top or in the microwave, but be very careful. You can let the apple slices cool if necessary before removing them from the water and placing them in their cup.
For your sixth set of apple slices, place it in its cup and cover it with cool water (not boiling) so that none of the fruit is uncovered.
Make sure you know what is in each cup! Labels may be helpful. Now, take one slice from each of your cups and taste it. You do not have to eat the whole slice, merely take a bite from each. (You may want to rinse your mouth after tasting some of these, and that's okay.) Do not put the slice back into its cup -- be sure to discard the piece after tasting. Describe how each apple tastes with its coating, also noting how the apple feels in your mouth (is it gritty, rough, smooth, slimy, etc?). Also note how each coating melds with the natural flavor of the apple.
Do not cover or refrigerate the remaining six slices. Let the cups sit for 24 hours, and then write down what happened with each cup. Be sure to notice the color of each apple slice and any differences, how each one physically looks, how each one smells, and be sure to touch each one to see how they feel. Do not taste them. After you have recorded your observations for each, throw the apple pieces away. Use your observations from both parts of this activity to answer the questions below.
Grading Rubric:
10: All answers are correct within the second revision of this lesson. Answers are correct, complete, and clear; all lesson requirements have been met. All answers are in complete sentences with correct grammar and spelling.
9: All answers are correct within the third revision. Answers are correct, complete, and clear; all lesson requirements have been met. All answers are in complete sentences and work is spell-checked, but may have a few grammatical errors.
8: All answers are correct after four or more revisions. Answers are correct, complete, and clear; all lesson requirements have been met. All answers are in complete sentences and work is spell-checked, but may have a few grammatical errors.
7: One or two answers are incorrect. All other answers are factually correct, complete, and clear. All lesson requirements have been met. All answers are in complete sentences and work is spell-checked, but may have a few grammatical errors.
6: Reserved for administrative use.
5: Plagiarism - purposeful or mistaken which will lower your final grade for the course (so be very careful when posting your work!); lack of effort, disrespect, or attitude (we are here to communicate with you if you don't understand something); or 9 or more errors; or lesson requirements have not been met.
Also be aware that you will have a chance to revise your work. More than 2 revisions will result in a lower grade, so read the directions carefully and make sure you meet the requirements. No lesson is complete without the approval of the instructor, and all revisions must be completed before a grade is assigned. No grade will be given for incomplete work.
Do not submit text that you have copied from sources, including websites. All of your work should be in your own words. Using copied text would be considered plagiarism. For more information, review our page on Plagiarism and Citation.
You will be using outside sites to research these answers, but be sure to use your own words! Cutting and pasting from another source is plagiarism and will severely dock your grade. The point of this section is to show that you understand the answers, not just to quote another site. Please paste the url(s) of the sites where you obtained your answers after the question.