You will need
- 1 Sharp knife
- Matches
- Heat proof surface, for example a pan or a ceramic plate
- 1 Potato
- 1 Peanut
- 1 Almond
- 1 Walnut
- If you are allergic to nuts you can use sunflower and pumpkin seeds instead.
What to do
- Cut a potato into a long cylinder or a tall rectangular cube.
- Carefully cut a long thin strip from the peanut, almond and walnut.
- Stick 1 peanut strip into the top of the potato. The potato will hold the peanut while it is burning.
- Light the peanut strip with a match. Let it burn until it goes out.
- Repeat steps 3 and 4 with one almond and one walnut strip.
- Which nut burns longest? Which nut is easiest to light?
Background
Nuts contain oil that can be lit to create a fire. The oil and the oxygen from the air undergo a chemical change during the fire turning them into carbon dioxide gas and steam. This type of reaction producing a fire is called “combustion”.
The nut that lights fastest and burns longest contains most oil. Which nut contained most oil?
You can watch a video of the experiment here:
A tang of science 
Almond oil has several health benefits, but the medicinal uses of almond oil are often less commonly used. However, oil can be used in cooking as part of a beauty program to moisturize hair and skin. Almond oil is a vegetable and is recommended for the heart, which contains unsaturated fats and vitamin E. Almond […]
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