Cool Science- Lesson 5 – Did you know a Fruit can do this?

All households always have different fruits, most of the time there is always a apple or banana that is not eaten and ends up in the dustbin.

Why are we throwing it away?  Because they get old and you cannot eat it anymore.

That is right!! it decomposes, what does decompose mean? It is when the fruit is pluck from its tree then it gets ripe and after a while turns a different color normally brownish. 

What we need for the experiment – (Parents ensure to assist the kids) 

· Banana and Apple peals 

· A bowl 

· A Fork 

· 2 plastic/glass bottles with a small opening (Like a soda drink bottle)  

· 1 balloon  

How to do it 

1. Take the very ripe fruits and mash it in the bowl with a fork 

2. Take the mash and place it into the bottle 

3. Take the balloon and place it over the open end of the plastic bottle 

4. Now you take the plastic/glass bottle and you place it in a spot in the house where it will catch a lot of sunlight for a few days 

5. To make it interesting you can take the measurement of the balloon every day to monitor the size of the balloon and note it down in your experiment note book. 

What’s happening? 

Source

When a fruit decomposes there is bacteria growing on it, you cannot see the bacteria with the naked eye, the bacteria eats the fruit and the more they eat the more and more bacteria grow and they become more, and during the process called decomposition they release gasses, the gasses is not so much that you can smell it but it is enough to blow up a balloon slightly.   You can also place different fruits separately in each bottle and you can experiment which types of fruits releases the most gases.  Reference - The Everything Kids' science experiments book.

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Happy Steeming

 

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