This is part 2 of my 5 Days of Christmas Science Experiments series.  In part 1, we talked about kitchen science.  Today we are expanding into engineering, sort of.

Super foods

Cranberries are the original super food. The Native Americans ate cranberries as fresh fruit, dried the fruit, and made tea out of the leaves.  There were also numerous other uses for the berries including using it as a dye and as bait.

Cranberries are extremely high in antioxidants and are thought to help prevent heart disease. The first energy bar (Pemmican) included cranberries as one of the main ingredients. Pemmican contained a mixture of dried cranberries, dried deer meat, and fat.

European influence.

Europeans used the berry in their traditional recipes. A sour fruit sauce to accompany meat or fowl. The addition of honeybees (and their honey) to European settler life changed how the berries were used.   Cranberries became staples in pies and tarts once sugar sources came into the picture.

The cranberry industry that began over 250 years ago has thrived, and today is worth over $300 million.  Typically, cranberries are harvested by flooding the fields and creating a bog where the cranberries float to the top and collected via nets.

Why do cranberries float?

Science, of course.  Floating occurs due to density and displacement (and the buoyant force).

Grab the FREE Density Worksheet.

Enter your information below to have the resource sent to your inbox.

What is density?

Density is the proportion of mass to volume.  Mass is the amount of matter in something and volume is the amount of space an object takes up.  The more matter (mass) within a space (volume) means that the object is denser.

For example, muscle is more dense than fat.  The same amount of muscle mass as fat will take up a lot less space.

Density impacts an ability of an object to sink or float.

BUT, there is more than density going on.

What is a buoyant force?

This can get a little more complex. The basics are that things float based on displacement. The density of the fluid impacts the displacement of the fluid (as does the density of the object). As long as there is enough fluid being displaced the object will float. Less dense objects will have more surface area versus a more dense object with the same mass, therefore, the increase in surface area results in more water displacement.

Here’s some information on the history and science of  Archimedes’ Principle…

Why do cranberries float?

Cranberries have an air packet that makes them less dense and float to the surface.

Why don’t we harvest all berries the way we harvest cranberries?

Enter your information below to have the resource sent to your inbox.

Find more Christmas ideas at the 5 days of Christmas Series hosted by iHomeschool Network