1 July 2003

I always like taking pictures for this experiment. The students burn a peanut or cashew and see how hot it makes the water inside a soda can. The water usually gets up to 40 degrees Celsius or so. From the temperature data and the mass of the nut, they can calculate the food energy per gram in the nut, then compare that to the nutritional information on the package. It is surprisingly accurate.

DWL