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Elliot and the Surfing Scientist: Food is stored energy

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Flame shoots out of test tube
Elliot and the Surfing Scientist: Food is stored energy
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Subjects: Science
Years: 9–10

Elliot challenges Ruben Meerman, the Surfing Scientist, to carry out a science experiment that involves explosions, pretty colours and lollies!

Watch this clip to see what he comes up with.

You might also learn something about chemical reactions and the stored energy in food.

Things to think about

  1. 1.Why is food thought of as stored or potential energy? Can you name the process by which energy in food is converted into another form of energy within our bodies? Where in the body does this reaction take place?

  2. 2.What does the Surfing Scientist add to the test tube first? How is this substance different from table salt (NaCl)? Note the safety equipment used by Elliot and the Surfing Scientist. Name the two main substances reacting with each other in both demonstrations.

  3. 3.Are the chemical reactions shown in the clip endothermic or exothermic reactions? (Search for definitions of these terms if you haven't heard them before.) What observations could you use to justify your answer? What does the Surfing Scientist mean when he says the sugar in the Gummi bear is being oxidised?

  4. 4.How are the chemical reactions demonstrated in the clip similar to the process of cellular respiration? How are they different? Record the similarities and differences in a Venn diagram, a box and T chart or a simple list.


Production Date: 2008

Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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