Are you nuts? An engaging experiment burns nuts to find their kilocalories. Young chemists analyze at least two different types of nuts with their experimental results versus what is on the package. The resource offers a great lab for connecting food labels and understanding that calories are a unit of measuring energy.

Concepts

calorimetry, heat, chemical reactions, the law of conservation of energy, heat of fusion

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Research nutrition labels and how a company determines a serving size

Classroom Considerations

• Be aware of food allergies
• Experiment should not be performed as written on a nut-free campus
• Follow all safety precautions

Pros

• Math connections are introduced in "non-math" situations
• Aligned with food science curriculum
• Helps explain something learners see every day

Cons

• None

Common Core

RST.9-10.3 RST.11-12.3