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September 23, 2013

Apple Science Experiment

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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! An apple experiment using acids and bases from your kitchen.

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!

Acids and Bases for a Science Experiment

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.)

Apple Science Experiment for Kids

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.

Acids and Bases Science Experiment

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.

Science Experiment for Kids with Acids and Bases

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!

About Megan Sheakoski

Megan is the creator of Coffee Cups and Crayons, a blog full of simple fun and learning. She believes that kids’ activities don’t have to be complicated to be fun and that learning is better with play.

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Comments

  1. JDaniel4's Mom says

    September 23, 2013 at 8:23 am

    What an interesting experiment! It was really cool to see what happened to the apples over time.

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      September 24, 2013 at 12:34 am

      Thanks! It was fun to see the results, especially since I didn’t predict correctly!

      Reply
  2. Natalie F says

    September 25, 2013 at 5:47 pm

    Great experiment! I also wouldn’t be able to predict correctly. Now I wonder what is it in lemon juice that is preserving apples.

    Reply
    • Eva says

      December 7, 2017 at 10:27 pm

      It’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! 🙂

      Reply
  3. Carolyn @ The Pleasantest Thing says

    September 25, 2013 at 9:45 pm

    Great idea! I love that you used items from the kitchen for the experiment.

    Reply
  4. Anna@The Measured Mom says

    September 27, 2013 at 2:31 pm

    GREAT science activity!

    Reply
  5. Anna@The Measured Mom says

    September 27, 2013 at 8:37 pm

    Featuring this on Monday 🙂

    Reply
  6. Magic and Mayhem says

    October 1, 2013 at 6:35 pm

    I 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. 🙂

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      October 1, 2013 at 9:36 pm

      We ended up looking it up too! Isn’t it interesting? I can’t wait to see what your experiment turns up!

      Reply
    • Eva says

      December 7, 2017 at 10:27 pm

      It’s also the pH balance.

      Reply
  7. santhiya says

    September 17, 2015 at 1:53 am

    it’s very super..experiments
    i am very happy………………………

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      September 17, 2015 at 7:40 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
  8. 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

    Reply
  9. Mallorie says

    January 22, 2017 at 5:20 pm

    What could be another base if we don’t have baking soda?

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      January 22, 2017 at 8:56 pm

      I think antacids and egg whites are also bases, but you may want to research. Good luck!

      Reply

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