Dylan+Collins+and+Elijah+Strange

=**__Rate of__** **__Decomposition__**=

We are doing this experiment to see which food item decomposes the fastest in the same controlled environment, the refrigerator. We know that food decomposes the best between 40-140 degrees (Capatilization error- Zoe Bannan) Fahrenheit because that is when enzymes are optimized and the bacteria and fungi have easier access to the food energy. (Writer, Contributing. "How Does Food Decompose?" EHow. Demand Media, 29 Oct. 2008. Web. 20 Dec. 2012) Also we know that food items will decompose faster if they do not have a lot of light or air, because the light and air kill off more bacteria and fungi. (http://www.sciencefairadventure.com/ProjectDetail.aspx?ProjectID=133) We also know that animal decomposition and fruit decomposition are not very different from each other, both start with living cells dying and rotting, and end with a decayed, rotten, dead organism. ("Decomposition." World of Forensic Science. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 20 Dec. 2012We plan on mapping the rate of decomposition in food items, we will put 3 of each food item and put it in an controlled temperature setting, in the refrigerator, then proceed to take pictures of the items every 5 days for 2 months. The fruits will not be moved anywhere else except for when the fruits are removed from the refrigerator to be weighed. Ensuring that we will not get a "fluke" set of data. We will take notes on which food item started to rot first, and which one was more resilient, and in the end we will compare our data that we got with the photos to each other and make the conclusion of which food item decomposes the best in the refrigerator. __**Hypothesis:**__ If we compare the photos, then we will see that the banana decomposes the fastest in the refrigerator. __**Materials: **__ __**1 camera **__** 3 Oranges ** __**A pencil **__** __3 bananas__ ** __**A notebook **__** __3 apples__ **
 * __A refrigerator__ __3 kiwis__ **


 * Analysis:** In our data, the results for the second week are weird compared to the first recording of the weight of the fruits. Some of the fruits actually gained weight and we are not sure that this is a fluke or if there is some kind of scientific explanation for this occurrence. When we first set this experiment up, we both hoped that (logically) every fruit that was being experimented on would lose even just a little bit of weight.

why did you pick one month?(Baele) Instead of repeating the experiment for a few months, you could use the four different kinds of fruit, but possibly more then 1 fruit of each kind. Example: 3 apples, 3 oranges, 3 bananas, and 3 strawberrys. (Cassulo) Maybe to get even better results you could change the conditions each time you do the experiment, an example would be different temperatures. (Ayers) Why not do the tests at the same time?-(TAM) Why did you pick those 4 fruits?-(Fager) Will you be changing any of the conditions? (Trey Keeley) How will you know if a fruit is older or younger this could affect the rate of decomposition. (braydechave1-9-13) How are you going to quantify your data? I know you're studying the rate of decomposition, but how will you measure it? My brother did an experiment like this, but he used juice instead of fruit and measured the pH. That might be an option for measurement. (B. Johnson) Maybe take observations more often? (TAM)