Students use cooking to help them explore and understand elements, atomic structure, and chemical reactions. Students will consider the different elements contained within food and how our body processes and uses them, as well as how different reactions during cooking create new flavours and textures.

 

They will use this understanding to create an episode for Magic on the Menu, a popular cooking show which educates viewers about the chemistry of cooking 

 

Key tasks

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• Elements in our food. Students will conduct a series of experiments to identify the different Periodic Table elements in our food, what our body needs them for, and how to ensure they are absorbed 

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• Chemistry in our cooking. Students will examine how cooking relies on chemical reactions, distinguish between endothermic and exothermic reactions in cooking, look at the role of enzymes in speeding up chemical reactions in cooking, and consider how combustion helps us use and burn the energy we derive from food 

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