Name: __________________________________________________________________________________________ Period: _____________Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse – A Food Calorimetry Pre-Lab

Can You Solve It?This giant cake set a new record for the world’s largest glutinous rice cake. It was made from over 1300 pounds of a special type of rice and required the work of dozens of cooks to complete. When finished, it measured almost 4 meters (12.5 feet) in diameter! Rice cakes like this one are often made with a special type of rice that has been steamed, mashed, and then toasted. The cakes not only provide energy and nutrients, but they also represent reunion and good luck.Food such as a rice cake contains matter and energy your body can use. When you eat, a series of chemical reactions help break down the food and release the energy stored in its molecules. Because different food items have different amounts of energy and nutrients, knowing the content of your food can help you make wise choices. If you wanted to know how many calories were in a food, you might look at the label on the package. But how could you find out the amount of energy in a record-breaking food like this?Predict: How might you measure the amount of energy in the world’s largest rice cake?__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Purpose: To practice data collection and analysis, to make observations on a familiar system undergoing change, and to determine which food provides more energy.Essential Question: Which food would you want to stockpile in order to be prepared for a zombie apocalypse?Hypothesis: Using what you know about the problem and the scientific concept of the lab, state a hypothesis, your best estimation of the answer to the essential question. Then describe the reasoning that led you to your hypothesis, using what you know about the scientific concept as a basis for your reasoning. Your hypothesis should be an if/then/because statement.____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Materials available for you to use… if you don’t see something that you want to use, ask the teacher if it’s available!- Safety Goggles - Food Samples - Matches- Stop Watch - Piece of foil - Thermometer- Electronic Scale - Beaker of water - Ruler- Ring Stand - 2 Rings - Wire Gauze Square- Paperclip - Soda CanExperiment and Data Collection:Briefly describe an Experiment that you can do to test your hypothesis. Don’t give all the details here, but explain how you will test the hypothesis. Include what variable you will change, what variable(s) you will measure, what control(s) you will need, and how many trials you will do.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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