My project consisted of learning how to cook and also explain the chemistry behind what it is that I was learning

how to do. As a senior about to move thousands of miles away, I realized I needed to learn how to fend for myself. It wasn't enough to be academically ready when I couldn't even successfully boil water without harming myself. So, in order to truly prepare myself for the new world I am about to embark, I decided to learn how to cook, tie in some chemistry to make it less menacing, and spend some quality time with my mom. So first, I started with something very, very basic: boiling water. Boiling water is key to a lot of aspects of cooking. Now I know boiling water is something most ten year olds can do, but when I was growing up I spent most of my time at school, and rarely went into the kitchen unless I was looking for some sort of snack. So, my mom supervised as I learned how to boil water and not burn down the house in the process.

The chemical process for boiling water is explained by examining the vapor pressure of water and the atmospheric pressure found in a room. Vapor pressure is formed as water changes from a liquid phase to a gas phase with the increase of temperature. When water begins to boil, we can observe bubbles forming at the bottom of the pan, and the bubbles are found at the bottom because the vapor pressure of water has yet to reach the atmospheric pressure of the room. The increase in temperature that the fire is placing on the pan is causing the water molecules to move faster, thus increasing kinetic energy, and increasing the vapor pressure. When water is boiling, we see bubbles at the surface of the water, and this indicates that the water pressure has reached the atmospheric pressure and is breaking through the water's surface.

Now that I could boil water and make boiled eggs, I decided to take things up a notch and make arroz con leche or, in other words, rice pudding. This is one of my favorite desserts and making it took a lot of patience on my mom's behalf. To make the Spanish rice pudding, we used rice, condensed milk, cinnamon, raisins, milk, and other ingredients. I first started by putting the milk, salt, and cinnamon in a pot and letting it come to a boil. I then stirred in the rice, some egg yolks, an orange rind, and then allowed the rice to simmer and I stirred continuously for about fifteen minutes and then waited until the rice was soft. Once the rice was soft, I added sugar and butter and stirred some more until the rice pudding was ready.

While I was learning how to make this dessert, I was reminded of a lab that I had done in my chemistry class. We had discussed colligative properties, which is a physical property of a solution that depends on the concentration of solute particles present. Colligative properties include freezing points and boiling points of a solution. The reason that making the arroz con leche reminded me of this lab, is that I noticed the the milk took longer to boil once I had added the salt and cinnamon to the pot. This tied into the lab because in the lab we determined that water takes longer to boil when there was a substance in it in comparison to when we just put pure water out to boil just like how it took longer for the milk to reach a boiling point now that cinnamon and salt had been added to it.

After I had mastered boiling water, I decided to move on to boiling eggs in order to produce hard boiled eggs. In order to make hard boiled eggs, I had to put the eggs in a pan of cold water and then bring the water to a boiling point while the lid on the pan was on. Once it had reached its boiling point, I would then remove the heat and let the eggs sit until the water cooled. The chemical process for boiling eggs is explained by examining how and why the inside of the egg solidifies in the presence of excess heat. Eggs contain protein, that when exposed to excess amount of heat, are dehydrated and the protein chains unfold and denature. The proteins in an egg consist of long chain molecules that are twisted into a spherical shape by different chemical bonds. When the egg is heated, the bonds break and the protein unravels and bonds with other molecules that then turns the eggs solid. As the egg continues to be exposed to the heat, more bonds are formed and the egg goes from being watery to rubbery. So as the water boils, the inside of the egg hardens and becomes edible.

MY SENIOR PROJECT