Science Made Easy: Easy kitchen experiments to learn concepts

Scientific concepts can seem to be all jargon if not understood clearly. It is when you start relating these concepts to real-world situations that you begin to comprehend clearly. After all, there’s science in everything you do in your daily life! Cooking, for instance, involves many scientific phenomena, from boiling water to baking a dish. Sakshi Gupta, a science teacher at Apeejay School, Model Town, shares some kitchen procedures that involve the fundamentals of science along with fun experiments. “You can try these experiments at home but under the supervision of any of your parents,” she advises. Let’s take a look:

Chole Bhature’s soaking spectacle

First, we will talk about our favourite Chole Bhature. Have you ever wondered why your mumma had to soak dry chana/chole (chickpeas) for at least 8 hours or overnight before cooking it? So that the chole can become soft for cooking. This involves a concept called imbibition i.e. absorption of water by a solid substance without forming a solution. You can observe this phenomenon very easily with raisins and water also, in a very short time.

Also Read: Science Made Easy: ‘Always study Chemistry topic-wise’, says an educator

Coming to Bhaturas, one has to prepare the dough at least three-four hours prior to cooking to make the dough fluffy. This involves the process of fermentation by adding a pinch of yeast and sugar to the dough and leaving it in a warm place. This leads to the formation of carbon dioxide and alcohol in the dough, which makes it fluffy and gives it a sour taste.

Let’s talk about density

You must have heard that oil and water are immiscible, and oil makes a separate layer if poured over water. It’s because oils are less dense than water. You can do one experiment based on the above fact: Take a big transparent glass tumbler or a vase. Fill half of the tumbler with water. Then pour some oil into the tumbler/vase for it to form at least a 2 cm-thick layer. Now, add different food colours drop by drop to the oil. You will see beads of food colours formed in oil because food colours are water-based. Since food colours are denser than water, they will start moving down towards water. And as soon as they touch the water, the colours will start dissolving in it making a beautiful pattern in water.

Make rock candies

Make a super-saturated sugar syrup. Pour it equally into separate containers. Now, add different food colours as per your desire in each of these containers. Put a thread in the container and leave it undisturbed for a few hours. You will get a self-made rock candy.

What goes into making chocolate slime?

Slime is usually inedible because of the chemicals used in them. But the one we are talking about is completely free of any chemicals. In a bowl, add a packet of hot chocolate and water. Mix well together until the lumps are gone. Pour in 1/4 cup of liquid starch and start kneading your slime. You will love how stretchy this chocolate slime becomes. You can play with it too! Slime is a non-Newtonian fluid that acts like both a solid and a liquid. A non-Newtonian fluid will take the shape of whatever container it is put into instead of remaining solid.

“All these small experiments teach us how science is involved in every step of our life and how our mothers and grandmothers are the first scientists we know. Be creative, be an explorer, and observe your surroundings. Start asking questions. Be a scientist,” the Apeejay teacher said.