Fall is here and apples are everywhere! We have been having fun with apple books and crafts and decided to do an apple science experiment too. The kids love acid and base reactions, but this time instead of combining them we observed to see what effects they would have on apples.
Apple Science Experiment
We began by choosing which acids and bases we were going to use. The acids were easy, lemon juice and vinegar are two we always have, but I didn’t know of any bases other than baking soda!
After some Googling we found out that Milk of Magnesia is a base too! We put apple slices in jars and covered the apples with each of the liquids (I added water to the baking soda to make a solution.)
The kids made predictions about what would happen during the apple science experiment and wrote them in their notebooks. Then they drew what the apples looked like on Day 1.
They next morning we checked on them and saw some changes! The apples in the lemon juice looked great, but the ones in the vinegar, the Milk of Magnesia, and the baking soda had started to turn brown. The ones in the water were only slightly brown.
We had hypothesized that the ones in the acids would stay fresh the longest and now realized our prediction was not going to come true.
The next day all of the apples were even more brown except the ones in lemon juice! They were only slightly started to change color. We concluded that acids in general don’t stop apples from browning, that something else in the lemon juice must be helping them stay fresher.
This was an easy experiment to set up with the kids! We all learned something new and they got lots of practice making and recording their observations. It would be interesting to try again with another fall fruit or vegetable.
More Apple Fun:
Fall Colour Apple Stamping from Happy Hooligans
Apple Tree Learning Games from B-Inspired Mama
Apple Taste Test from Two Much Fun
Apple Bowling Math Game from Me!
JDaniel4's Mom says
September 23, 2013 at 8:23 amWhat an interesting experiment! It was really cool to see what happened to the apples over time.
Megan Sheakoski says
September 24, 2013 at 12:34 amThanks! It was fun to see the results, especially since I didn’t predict correctly!
Natalie F says
September 25, 2013 at 5:47 pmGreat experiment! I also wouldn’t be able to predict correctly. Now I wonder what is it in lemon juice that is preserving apples.
Eva says
December 7, 2017 at 10:27 pmIt’s actually the pH balance! The lower the better. Lemon’s pH is 2.0, Vinegar’s is anywhere from 2.5-3, Milk of Magnesia’s is 10, Water doesn’t really have a recorded one (since it doesn’t really taste), and baking soda’s is 8.3. A list of pH from lowest to highest (best to worst): Lemon, Vinegar, Baking Soda, Milk of Magnesia, and then Water! This is why lemon juice worked the best! Hope this helped! 🙂
Carolyn @ The Pleasantest Thing says
September 25, 2013 at 9:45 pmGreat idea! I love that you used items from the kitchen for the experiment.
Anna@The Measured Mom says
September 27, 2013 at 2:31 pmGREAT science activity!
Anna@The Measured Mom says
September 27, 2013 at 8:37 pmFeaturing this on Monday 🙂
Magic and Mayhem says
October 1, 2013 at 6:35 pmI was excited to see this on Pinterest but I wanted more information to really make this actually educational for the kids. I looked it up myself, and the lemon juice works not because it is an acid but because it has vitamin C. “Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) halts the process of oxidative browning efficiently because it is an antioxidant that stops the enzymatic reaction. It is used commercially as a fruit preservative.” From http://www.ask.com/question…. I think I’ll see about an experiment with my kids this week using various liquids that have vitamin C (OJ, lemon juice, kool-aid since it’s got it added, etc.) and water to see which work best. 🙂
Megan Sheakoski says
October 1, 2013 at 9:36 pmWe ended up looking it up too! Isn’t it interesting? I can’t wait to see what your experiment turns up!
Eva says
December 7, 2017 at 10:27 pmIt’s also the pH balance.
santhiya says
September 17, 2015 at 1:53 amit’s very super..experiments
i am very happy………………………
Megan Sheakoski says
September 17, 2015 at 7:40 amThank you!
Lynda Finn says
March 4, 2016 at 1:10 am“We had hypothesized that the ones in the apples would stay fresh the longest”
I think this needs correction
Mallorie says
January 22, 2017 at 5:20 pmWhat could be another base if we don’t have baking soda?
Megan Sheakoski says
January 22, 2017 at 8:56 pmI think antacids and egg whites are also bases, but you may want to research. Good luck!