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Alissa,

I grew up on an orchard and consider myself a bit of an apple coinsurer. So
here are some ideas from a kid in the know.

Have a bowl of cut apples in acidulated water (water with lemon juice) and
compare them to apples in a bowl to show how the fruit oxidizes and turns
brown.

Use a refractometer to measure the sugar content of different varieties. Do
taste tests to see if they match up with the measurements.

Measure the PH of the juice of different varieties. (it may not that be that
different but my guess is that the more tart the juice the lower the Ph.)

Use a cutting strain gauge from the food industry to measure crunchiness.
(There is an excellent episode of Mythbusters where they used one on stakes
tenderized with explosives.)

Weigh apples whole and then weigh the pulp after putting it through a juicer
to measure the percentage of water.  Try with different varieties. Give kids
the juice.  Have them guess the weight difference.

Do a taste test of apples that are very cold versus apples that are close to
room temp. (Ice-cream and sodas have tons of sugar because our taste buds
have a harder time sensing sweet when they are cold.)  This is one of the
reasons that an apple right off the tree often tastes much better than one
out of the fridge.

Do paper chromotography with the pigments in the peels.  I am not sure what
you have to use to extract the pigments.  I would try water, alcohol, and
possibly acetone. (I have never done this with apples it is worth testing
but is has lame-tential.)

Do a DNA comparison of different varieties. See if you can see which
varieties are most closely related.

Make hard cider - Over 21 only please.

Too bad you didn't post this in the spring. Here is a good experiment for
next year.  Each apple blossom can make up to 5 apples.  Orchardists thin
all but one of the apples from each blossom to get one big one rather than 5
mini apples.  This used to be done by hand but now they have spray on plant
hormones that do it for you.  Guess what my summer job was.  You could have
pics or samples of apples that were and weren't thinned.

Show examples of grafting.  Often the roots of a tree are a completely
different variety than the fruiting part on top.

Have a varietal display. With a little calling around you should be able to
get your hands on more than 15 or 20 different varieties.  Here is one link
with a list of several.

My favs.
Honeycrisp (U of MN developed this one.) Sweet and super crispy - almost
like eating a really tasty jicima
Fuji- Sweet and tasty
Gala - Like candy
Pink Lady - a lot like a honey crisp
Macintosh - tart and crunchy
Jazz - Kind of Spicy yeeha!

Ones I don't like
Cortland - thick skin and a bit mealy
Braeburn (The skin is thicker than leather and always gets in my teeth ew!)
Red Delicious - the Lowest common denomenator of apples.  A perfectly ripe
one right off the tree is OK but that is about it.  They get mealy really
fast.  

I hope this is helpful.

Mike

On 9/18/09 3:33 PM, "Kate Hintz" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
> 
> Cut apples different ways and talk symmetry
> 
> On Sep 18, 2009, at 1:54 PM, Daniels, Alissa wrote:
> 
>> our health educator is having an "apple day" next month (ah, fall in
>> new england!) I'm trying to come up with a good science activity
>> around the theme of apples (on beyond apple prints, you know what I
>> mean...)
>> 
>> thoughts?
>> 
>> and happy new year to them that celebrates
>> 
>> AD
>> 
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> Alissa Daniels, Science Program Manager/Senior Educator
>> Boston Children's Museum
>> 617 426 6500 .342
>> "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds
>> new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's
>> funny..."  " --Isaac Asimov
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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> 
> Kate
> 
> Kate Hintz
> Collections Gallery Manager
> Science Museum of Minnesota
> 651-221-4508
> 
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