Monday, March 10, 2014

Freezing a Banana

The other day I discovered a simple science experiment that I need to show my daughters.  While traveling to visit family, I bought a few snacks from the store and put them in the front seat of the car.  When I arrived at my destination, I left the snacks in the car because I was leaving again the next day.  I didn't want to bring the snacks in the house with no intention of eating them that night and carry them back out to the car the next morning.  So I left everything in the car.  Aside from one item, everything I left in the car was unaffected by the sub-zero temperatures we were experiencing at the time.  The banana I left in the car, however, was very affected!

So what happens to a banana when it freezes?  When it freezes it becomes cold and hard, just like most objects when frozen.  However, when the banana thaws, it doesn't thaw back into a standard banana.  What's left is a big mushy mess!  So much for that banana!

I haven't shown this to my girls yet, but I'm going to set it up as a simple science experiment and ask them to make predictions on a frozen banana.  Then we'll put it in the freezer and wait until the next day and check it out after it thaws.  It doesn't seem like a complicated experiment, and it's not, but it's the discovery of something new that makes this science.  Plus it thaws differently from most objects when they thaw.  Knowing my daughters, they'll find the thawed banana quite interesting.  What will be hard is getting them to try the mushy banana!

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