! Which nut has the most. stored energy? By: Andrea Rendon. Chemistry. April, 18th, 2014

Transcription

1 Which nut has the most stored energy? By: Andrea Rendon Chemistry April, 18th, 2014

2 Which nut, walnuts, pecans, or almonds have the most stored energy? A nut is a fruit composed of a hard shell and seed. Nuts are often associated with high nutritional content as they are good source of energy. Most nuts contain quite a but of fat, vitamins and are fairly rich in the essential amino acid, which generally make nuts a filling food to consume. Most nuts have a high fat and protein content, but relatively low carbohydrate level, making them a healthy source of protein. The definition of a calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 milliliter of water one degree Celsius. There are 1,000 calories in 1 Calorie. When speaking nutritionally, the unit of Calorie is used for the nutritional information that is found on food packaging labels. Nutritional requirements are often expressed in calories per day Question: Which nut, Walnut, Almond, or pecan have the most stored energy? Hypothesis: I think that the Walnut will release more energy because it will burn for a longer time, allowing the water to become hotter than the others. Logical Steps: in carrying out experiment 1. Fill soda can with 100mL of water and place the thermometer in the can. After 2 minutes record the temperature of the water in degrees Celsius. Record in data table. 2. Attach ring clamp to stand 20 cm above the base 3. Suspend the soda can through the ring clamp by placing the stirring rod through the soda can tab and resting the ends on the top of the ring clamp. 4. Get a walnut, weigh the walnut (in grams) using a weight scale. Record data below. 5. Secure the walnut on the on a paper clip support and place on the stand base below the soda can 6. Using a match, light the walnut provided. Hold the match under the walnut until it is fully burning on its own. 7. Suspend the thermometer in the pop can s water. Make sure it is not touched the bottom of the can. 8. As the Walnut burns observe the change in the waters temperature 9. When the thermometer reaches its highest point (After the nut burns out on its own), record that temperature in the data table. 10. Carefully re-weigh the burnt Walnut. Record weight on data table. 11. Calculate the total calories put off by the walnut (use correct equation provided below). Record in data table 12. Calculate the calorie per gram of the walnut (use correct equation provided below). Record in data table 13. Calculate the nutritional calorie of the walnut (use the equation below). Record in data table 14. Repeat steps 1-13 for the Pecan and Almond Material List - Beaker - Matches - Walnut, Pecan, Almond - Ring clamp - Stand - Scale

3 Controlled variable - Amount of water - Size of Can - Thermometer Manipulated variable - Nuts - Weight of Nuts Responding Variable - Calories Validity measures - Taking accurate measurements - following the steps accurately - Holding the thermometer away from the can Calculations: Total calories- Calories= (volume of water) (change in temperature) calories per gram- Calories per gram = (change in water temp) (change in mass of nut) Calories per gram- calories per gram = calories per gram / 1,000 My Calculations Walnut - total calories- ( 100 ml) (50 ) = 5,000 - calories per gram- (50 ) (2.19 g ) = Calories per gram / 1000 =.1095 Pecan - total calories- (100 ml ) (42 ) = 4,200 - calories per gram- (42 ) (1.92 g) = Calories per gram / 1000 = Almond - total calories- ( 100 ml) (26 ) = 2,600 - calories per gram- ( 26 ) (1.11 g) = Calories per gram / 1000 =.02886

4 Initial Temp Final Temp Change in temp Initial Mass Final Mass change in mass Walnut g.16 g 2.19 g Pecan g.16 g 1.92 g Almond g.12 g 1.11 g Total calories calories per gram Calories per gram Walnut 5, Pecan 4, Almond 2,

5 Conclusion The walnut had the most stored energy because it had the highest calories per a high of.1095, and the nut with the least amount of energy being the almond with a low Calorie per gram of At first when I saw all three nuts, I figured the almond would release the most energy because of how dense it was, but I decided to go for a less denser looking nut because I figured it would burn a lot faster. Overall my hypothesis was correct and the walnut released more energy than the other nuts. Reflection My hypothesis was correct as my results matched it, causing the walnut to release more energy because it had the highest Calories per gram over all the other nuts, which were pecan, and almonds. Almonds had the lowest count and when I first had to make a decision on what nut I thought had the highest count, I almost went for almond, because I saw how compact and and I figured it would burn for a lot longer. When it came to do the experiment, it took the longest to catch on fire and the flame went out in a short period of time. With the walnut, it caught on fire right away and burned steadily until it was burnt all the way through, just leaving a shell of ashes. With the pecan, it took a bit longer to catch fire, but it burned steadily after that, it didn't burn all the way through like the walnut but it did burn a lot more than the almond. I found out with my results that walnuts had the highest Calories per gram, which means it has more nutritional value. A person should consume them if they are on a high calorie intake diet, because those provide more calories than almonds and pecans. If you want something filling but less Calories, it would be better to eat an almond because the Calories you're consuming would be a lot less than that of a walnut.