How to Make the (Scientifically proven) best mac and cheese ever
The Chemistry of food and Cooking.
Reflection
The best way to measure the qualities and desirability of our finished product both qualitatively and quantitively in order to determine our success was by doing a blind test. What this means is that we gave our subjects all three of our mac and cheeses, one cheddar, one gouda, and one store bought cheese powder. When we gave them each mac and cheese we where sure not to tell them which mac and cheese was which. Then we made our subject fill out a survey about the three mac and cheeses they just tested. The survey had many questions about both the qualities of the mac and cheese and even its desirability level (referred to as over all rating in our experiment).
As soon as this proses was over we could look at the results of the survey and use them to determine our recipes success. What we found was that everyone like our homemade mac and cheese more than the store bought which was one of our goals. We also found that people liked the cheddar flavor more but the consistency of the gouda the most. If we where to continue this experiment this information would be critical because we could use it to find a way to mix the two cheeses for optimal flavor and consistency.
Cooking is just like science in a few aspects but it is also very different in a few ways. Just like in science cooking requires that you follow instructions or guidelines exactly or else whatever your final product is (weather it be food or data) will not be exactly what you want to to be or expected it to be. Just like in lab there are many norms in the kitchen that are quite similar. Its important in both the kitchen and the lab to remember where you got your "tools" so you can return them when finished. Also just like in the lab there are certain things you should and should not wear in the kitchen. Just like a lab room a kitchen has lots of open flames, glass, and sharp objects. It would be a safe idea to follow lab procedure in the kitchen and put your hair up, wear some short non baggy sleeves, and just make sure to remove any unnecessary clothing that could get in your way. Also just like at a lab when are cooking it is always polite to clean up your area when finished so whoever will be using the area next can get started right away without having to deal with your mess.
While they have many things in common there are also some big differences. One of these things is what they are working with. Chemists are often working with substances that could be potentially harmful when ingested, exposed to sensitive areas like eyes or cuts, or even just to your bare skin. Cooks are almost 100% of the time working with food that is safe to touch and eat. This means that unlike a cook a chemist must take more precautions then a cook. Chemists where things like eye protection and lab coats to protect them selves from harmful substances that cooks font ever even encounter.
As soon as this proses was over we could look at the results of the survey and use them to determine our recipes success. What we found was that everyone like our homemade mac and cheese more than the store bought which was one of our goals. We also found that people liked the cheddar flavor more but the consistency of the gouda the most. If we where to continue this experiment this information would be critical because we could use it to find a way to mix the two cheeses for optimal flavor and consistency.
Cooking is just like science in a few aspects but it is also very different in a few ways. Just like in science cooking requires that you follow instructions or guidelines exactly or else whatever your final product is (weather it be food or data) will not be exactly what you want to to be or expected it to be. Just like in lab there are many norms in the kitchen that are quite similar. Its important in both the kitchen and the lab to remember where you got your "tools" so you can return them when finished. Also just like in the lab there are certain things you should and should not wear in the kitchen. Just like a lab room a kitchen has lots of open flames, glass, and sharp objects. It would be a safe idea to follow lab procedure in the kitchen and put your hair up, wear some short non baggy sleeves, and just make sure to remove any unnecessary clothing that could get in your way. Also just like at a lab when are cooking it is always polite to clean up your area when finished so whoever will be using the area next can get started right away without having to deal with your mess.
While they have many things in common there are also some big differences. One of these things is what they are working with. Chemists are often working with substances that could be potentially harmful when ingested, exposed to sensitive areas like eyes or cuts, or even just to your bare skin. Cooks are almost 100% of the time working with food that is safe to touch and eat. This means that unlike a cook a chemist must take more precautions then a cook. Chemists where things like eye protection and lab coats to protect them selves from harmful substances that cooks font ever even encounter.
Energy and the Environment
A source that I used for my infographic that I would consider to be most reliable and least biased would be my electrical bill. For my infographic I need specific data on my house regarding how much energy is being used monthly, weekly, and daily. My electricity bill is an extremely reliable and 100% unbiased way to find that out.
My first source, my electricity bill, I would consider to be a primary source. My rationale for this is that the data that I was looking at came straight from the source. In other words the people who created it were also the people who retrieved the data.
A source that I used for my infographic that I would consider to be second most reliable and second least biased was a government energy website energy.gov. I believe this because this website gave me detailed data about different solar systems that wasnt skewed towards any particular side, and I knew it was reliable because it gave an accurate example of the equations used to find cost and efficiency of any solar power system.
My second source, the government website, is a secondary source. I know this because the data on the website about different solar power systems was not found by the government. It was more than likely told to them or researched about from a solar company, than retold on the government electricity website.
A source I used that I would consider to be third most reliable and third most unbiased is alternativeenergynews.info. I say this because this website had lots of good information on solar panels from how they work to current solar panel news but seemed a little biased. The website definitely expressed their fondness of solar panels. It's good to know that the people creating this information based page are passionate about the topic but sometimes that can blind you from finding things you don't want to find and for that I say it's not as good as the others.
My third source, the .info website, was mostly a secondary source but a little bit of a tertiary source as well. It was mostly articles about how solar panels work as things like that but there were some news reports on the website that I believed to be tertiary. Although I did not use them I thought it would still be good to say that the website did include some.
My final and least reliable source I used for this infographic was a wikipedia article about emissions from solar power in relationship to other power sources. I determined this one to be least reliable because it's on wikipedia and I know that sometimes wikipedia does have false information. Although for this situation I just needed it for a little background information so I decided it would be ok.
My fourth and final source Is also a secondary source. It's just a simple wikipedia article written from people who have first hand or superior knowledge on a topic.
Reflection
What is the role of scientists and engineers in society? In what ways is life as we know it better (or worse) because of their work either in basic scientific research or the development of implementable technologies?
The role of scientists and engineers in today's society is to create and discover new things that can help lead to new discoveries and new inventions that ideally make our lives more convenient/ knowledgeable. Scientist and engineers have made our lives so much better in so many ways. Without them things people tend to think they need like electricity, gas, cars, internet, and many other wonderful luxuries would not be around to help use get through our days as conveniently as possible. But at the same time many of these things like cars and the internet come with detriments to our planet and society. So while they do cause some chaos in the world there good overpowers there bad.
How significant is the climate change related problem you identified? What are its root causes? What, if anything, can be done to mitigate the severity of the problem or are the outcomes inevitable?
My topic is the solution to climate change. Solar power produces almost zero emissions compared to other power sources. The only emissions caused from solar power and from the factories they are created in and the vehicles used to transport them. If everyone started using solar power emissions would drop significantly and global warming would slowly start to become less of a problem as the ozone layer becomes less polluted.
My first source, my electricity bill, I would consider to be a primary source. My rationale for this is that the data that I was looking at came straight from the source. In other words the people who created it were also the people who retrieved the data.
A source that I used for my infographic that I would consider to be second most reliable and second least biased was a government energy website energy.gov. I believe this because this website gave me detailed data about different solar systems that wasnt skewed towards any particular side, and I knew it was reliable because it gave an accurate example of the equations used to find cost and efficiency of any solar power system.
My second source, the government website, is a secondary source. I know this because the data on the website about different solar power systems was not found by the government. It was more than likely told to them or researched about from a solar company, than retold on the government electricity website.
A source I used that I would consider to be third most reliable and third most unbiased is alternativeenergynews.info. I say this because this website had lots of good information on solar panels from how they work to current solar panel news but seemed a little biased. The website definitely expressed their fondness of solar panels. It's good to know that the people creating this information based page are passionate about the topic but sometimes that can blind you from finding things you don't want to find and for that I say it's not as good as the others.
My third source, the .info website, was mostly a secondary source but a little bit of a tertiary source as well. It was mostly articles about how solar panels work as things like that but there were some news reports on the website that I believed to be tertiary. Although I did not use them I thought it would still be good to say that the website did include some.
My final and least reliable source I used for this infographic was a wikipedia article about emissions from solar power in relationship to other power sources. I determined this one to be least reliable because it's on wikipedia and I know that sometimes wikipedia does have false information. Although for this situation I just needed it for a little background information so I decided it would be ok.
My fourth and final source Is also a secondary source. It's just a simple wikipedia article written from people who have first hand or superior knowledge on a topic.
Reflection
What is the role of scientists and engineers in society? In what ways is life as we know it better (or worse) because of their work either in basic scientific research or the development of implementable technologies?
The role of scientists and engineers in today's society is to create and discover new things that can help lead to new discoveries and new inventions that ideally make our lives more convenient/ knowledgeable. Scientist and engineers have made our lives so much better in so many ways. Without them things people tend to think they need like electricity, gas, cars, internet, and many other wonderful luxuries would not be around to help use get through our days as conveniently as possible. But at the same time many of these things like cars and the internet come with detriments to our planet and society. So while they do cause some chaos in the world there good overpowers there bad.
How significant is the climate change related problem you identified? What are its root causes? What, if anything, can be done to mitigate the severity of the problem or are the outcomes inevitable?
My topic is the solution to climate change. Solar power produces almost zero emissions compared to other power sources. The only emissions caused from solar power and from the factories they are created in and the vehicles used to transport them. If everyone started using solar power emissions would drop significantly and global warming would slowly start to become less of a problem as the ozone layer becomes less polluted.