Project Essay - Bread

Agnes Szakacs

05/20/15

Period 2/3

Essay

What happens when you make sourdough bread? What is the chemistry behind it? I have gotten to know the answer to this question by making this experiment. The experiment was for me to observe how bread rises. During this experiment I learned a lot.

I had to learn about yeast before trying out this experiment. What is yeast? Yeast is a fungus, which makes it like a mushroom and mold. The yeast is made up of 73% water, and 13% protein. I also learned that when yeast is in contact with warm water and sugar the yeast comes to life and fests on the sugar. I have gotten my research from recipes, cooking websites, websites and presentations about yeast. My hypothesis was, when finding this out, that if yeast is a huge part of the bread processes then the yeast was the reason why the bread was rising.

To test this hypothesis out was I started out making bread and sourdough bread. For the bread I had to mix the ingredients together, white and wheat flour, warm water, milk, sugar, salt and yeast. Then I let it sit for 1 hour and 30 minutes, after that it was twice as large. Then I heat up the bread, and had to bake it for 30 minutes while covered and 10 minutes uncovered. My hypothesis was correct. The result was that the bread did rise, and it tasted great. I did the same thing with the sourdough, but I kept on feeding it and mixing it with new amounts of yeast for 5 days. Then I baked the sourdough, I got the same results on that as well.

Claim Evidence - Smells

Agnes Szakacs

05/13/15

Claim Evidence - Smells

During the experiment my group and I observed different smells and what they are made out of. My claim is that there are senses that smell different and similar to each other.

Citrus fruit have similar smells, because every citrus fruit has an orange molecule along with a molecule of their own.

Mints and spices have different sense. Spices like Vanilla and Cinnamon molecule structures have Aldehyde. Peppermint and Spearmint have Ketone structures. One thing that all senses have is that they have Oxygen atoms.

Molecule Lab

05/14/15 

In class we had a class lab about molecules. We had to structure atoms with toothpicks, gumdrops, and raisins. We had to know where to place our atoms when building, by completing dot structures. Where we started off was first pick a good amount of molecules we would design. Then we got to drawing and constructing where everything will go. Here are a few examples;

What I learned in this class lab is that I got a visually on how molecules looked like. I learned how they were connected with each other. On a piece of paper I would have not understood how they would look like.

Molecule name: CS2

Molecule name:CO

Molecules name: H2S

Molecule name: SCI6

This molecule was interesting because at first I made the Chlorine (the purple gumdrops), go around the Sulfur, flat on the ground. But I realized something was wrong and different about this molecule. Then I thought who said they have to be 2D? When I can make them 3D. So I got the molecule in this 3D design. 

Molecule name: Nicotine

Molecule Name: Caffeine 

Molecule Name: O3

Molecule Name: CHCI3

Molecule Name: SO3

Molecule Name: NF3

Molecule Name: BrF5

Molecule Name: SH2

Molecule Name: Testosterone

(Somewhat stabled) 

The End..

Agnes Szakacs

05/13/15

Reflection Chemistry

This semester of Chemistry was so great for me. I have gotten more confident in proposing my works. I have had lots of fun in Chemistry and I learned quite a lot. It is my most favorite class ever! I wish I had a whole year in Andrew’s class!

I have found out that I am curious whenever I had a chance to do a new lab. I like working hands on. Makes me feel like I can do what I want to do, without having the teacher telling me what to do specifically. It gets boring when you have to learn the same thing over and over again. Nothing new, nothing exciting. My brain doesn’t get “smarter”, it gets lazy and bored. In Andrew’s Chemistry class I learned something new every day. He was so flexible with the students that he trusted us to learn and propose what we wanted. I honestly think I learned a lot more with him then in any other class or schools I have went to for that matter.

My favorite works were the ones that got me moving and going. Like the rock project. I got so mad at myself that I just wanted to quit. I didn’t have the skills with rocks like some people had. But I pushed myself. I also liked the rocket engine lab. However, I was not a fan of rockets. They seemed too “difficult” to make. But I found out I like making the engine and the motor of a rocket. It was something new in my life. I was so proud of myself when I saw my rocket launch off and go a few feet away from me. I never launched something that was made with my own hands. I also liked making Oobleck. It was our first class lab. I had so much fun with it, I was childish again. Having a solid become a liquid made me curious, confused, and excited.

I had a few failures in my labs. I tried making milk out of plastic. But it turned into cheese instead. I also did the destiny lab, but my group and I measured the destiny of liquids wrong. One of my classmates ask why did I post our failures up on my blog. In my response I said why not? But now as I think about my failures and why I post them I think that not everyone is perfect, and not everything is going to turn out perfect. People have to see your failures in order to learn what you did wrong. If you don’t show your failures how will you know you failed? You won’t learn anything then if someone won’t critique you.

Overall I’m just really thankful and lucky I had Andrew as my chemistry teacher. I will really miss his class next year. I wish more teachers were like him. Confident, positive, cares about us students and opens up our minds.

Lava Lamp

05/10/15

Today at home I made the Lava Lamp experiment. What I got together was a water bottle, water, vegetable oil, food coloring, and Alka-Seltzer. I first filled up the water bottle with water to a quarter. Then I added some red and blue to make purple. It was more like a dark red. Then I added vegetable oil to almost the top of the bottle. Once the water was separated from the oil I put in some pieces of Alka-Seltzer. When I put them in the water underneath started to explode up to the surface making the lava lamp effect.

What I learned in this experiment is the science to this. What happens is that water molecules and oil molecules do not mix together with each other. If you try shaking them together, they will not mix at all. There would be some drops, because the oil is breaking but they won't mix. The reason why the oil floats on top of the water is because water is denser, also known as heavier. When you put in Alka-Seltzer, it reacts to the water making them mix together and making carbon dioxide. They get attached to the water and cause them to float up to the surface. When they pop the color with the water explodes. Making the effect.

Rock Project

04/21/15

Research

Today I picked out a rock I will be polishing and working with. I found out I have gotten Red Jasper. Long ago, the people had meanings to these stones. It meant protection for both the physical and spiritual real. Known as the "rain bringers" and nurtures, healers of the spirits and stones of courage and wisdom. It also gives the person self-confidence.
Jasper is made out of silicon dioxide (SiO2), iron oxide, manganese oxide, metal oxide, and sometimes has organic matters.

04/23- 05/07/15

Shaping the rock

I had been grinding, shaping, and polishing my rock. Even when it turned out right, something happened to the rock. It falls and gets a deep scratch on the polished side. I learned that shaping and polishing the rock is really a slow task. Not everything will turn out the way you want it to turn out.  After weeks of shaping and polishing my rock, it took a while.

The look

Before                                                                                                                   After

What I learned during this processes is that if you truly work hard, and if you are not quiet in working, meaning you dive in for the grinder for your rock, then you will get what you want in the end. Grinding and polishing a rock is not easy, and is not fun if you have to restart four times and go back to the next stage. Every time I will go into a jewelry store, I will always have respect for the person who cut, grind, and polished that rock. I would do it again, to make another rock now I have a little experience. But not when its based on my grade. I would need a month to finish a rock. But even  though it was a hard processes I still like the result I got from my Red Jasper. I can say I made it and not bought it at the store. I do suggest to do this if someone wants to have a new stone on their neck.

About Rocks and Minerals

05/04/15

I was going through my room, and I found my childhood rocks that I have long forgotten about. I decide I would talk about each stone I have found, research what they are made of and what they mean.

Name: Brazilian Sodalite

Origin: Brazil

Research: Usually sodalite is blue or blue-violet, but can also be white or green and sometimes yellow. It contains calcium, sulfur, or chlorine in addition to sodium, aluminum, and silica. Specimens have been found that glow orange in the dark, or change color under ultraviolet light or when a broken surface is first exposed to light. Sodalite that does this is called Chameleon Sodalite. This color-changing is called Tenebrescence. It's formula is Na8(Al6Si5O24)CI2. Mohs scale hardness 5.5-6. 

Power: Healing, peacefulness

Name: Aventurine

Origin: Africa

Research: Aventurine is a rock, not a mineral and is the form of a quartz. Which larger crystals interlock with grains of other color give minerals. They may contain spangles of mica or scales of Iron oxide. The color of the rock can be green or even reddish-brown. The name "A ventura" comes from the Italian word for "by chance".

Power: Confidence, mental tranquillity

Name: Gold Stone

Origin: China

Research: Gold Stone is not really a stone. It is man-made; made by a kind of glass with tiny flecks of copper inside made in a low-oxygen reducing atmosphere. The glass was accidentally made in Venice, and was named aventurine (accident). Gold Stone is not the same as the stone Aventurine. Gold Stone is usually copper brown, but blue or purple specimens are also found. 

Power: Generating energy and deflecting unwanted energy

Name: Rose Quartz

Origin: Africa

Research: Rose Quartz is a type of quartz which exhibits a pale pink to red rose hue. Scientists used to think the color it makes comes from Manganese, and Titanium impurities. But now they see there are microscopic fibers of some completely new substance in Rose Quartz stones that are responsible for their color. The color does fade if put in sunlight. It's formula is SiO2.

Power: Enhances appreciation of beauty, art and music

Name: Rock Crystal

Origin: Brazil

Research: Pure Quartz are traditional called Rock Crystal. It is clear and colorless. Rock Crystal is one of the most common minerals on earth, and perhaps in the solar system as well. They have been found on both moon rocks and meterorites. It formula is SiO2, and its mohs hardness scale is 7. 

Power: Amplifies psychic abilities

Name: Tiger's Eye

Origin: Africa

Research: Tiger's Eye is created when Crocidolite is pseudomorphed by Quartz. A pseudomorph is when one mineral replaces another, atom-by-atom, without changing or destroying the original mineral's outward shape. The strips in Tiger's Eye are preserved asbestos fibers. Formula is Si02, and its Mohs hardness scale is 5.5-6. It's colors go from golden to red-brown.

Power: Focus, timing, patience

Name: New Jade

Origin: China

Research: New Jade looks like a paler version of Jade, but it is acutally the mineral, Serpentine. It is a metamorphic rock made from alternating layers of silicates and elements like magnesium. Serpentine is from the Latin serpens, or serpent. Mohs hardness scale is 4-6. 

Power: Peacefulness, harmony, lifting depression

Rainbow Roses

05/04/15

I started another small experiment. This time making Rainbow Roses. I got three white roses, some food coloring, three cups full of water, and duck tape. I got the three cups full of water typed together. Then I added a few drops of red, green, and blue, in each separate cup of water. I took the three white roses and trimmed them. Dividing their stems in three sections. I put each stem in the cups, and waited for what will happen overnight.

What is happening here is that Pigment molecules are in the flower and the water is going through the molecules into the petals. Coloring them each with a different color. It shows were clear water would go to the flower.

Self-Frezzing Soda

05/03/15

Today I did a small experiment on making soda freeze itself. What you have to do is, shake the soda of your choice, and put it in the freezer on its side. After 3 hours and 15 minutes I took out the soda carefully. Nothing seemed to happen. But as I started to carefully open, I wasn't slow enough, and the soda started to freeze itself and turn into ice.

I learned why this is happening and how. The reason why is because when you open the carbonated beverage the pressure is released. When pressure drops, so those the temperature. The soda inside of its container was just slightly above freezing, but dropped to freezing temperature, making it turn into ice. This is a really good way to make your drink into a delicious slushy during a hot summer day. I suggest to try it.