1. Fruits vs. Rotting Rates
By Ramses Paredes

2. Questions
Do specific conditions and temperature of a fruit determine how long to stay fresh?

3. Problem:
How long do bananas, strawberries, and apples stay fresh in different conditions before rotting?
Purpose:
To help shoppers know how long fruit takes to rot in different temperatures.

4. Vocab
Fruit- the sweet and fleshy product of a tree or other plant that contains seed and can be eaten as food.
Ethylene Gas- A gas emitted by some fruits that ripens other fruit/vegetables
Ripe- Development of a fruit for harvesting or eating
Rot- Decay by the action of bacteria or fungi

5. Vocab cont.
Tropism- The turning of all or part of an organism in a particular direction in response to an external stimulus.

6. Variable Experimental Group Control Group Control Variables
Bananas apples and strawberries in Fridge, Freezer, Oven
Control Group
Banana,Strawberries,and Apples at room temp.
Control Variables
Location of fruit, physical and chemical properties, environmental, temperature in house, outdoor temperature,
Dependent Variable
Rate of the fruits rotting (cm2/time)
Independent variable
How ripe the fruit currently is

7. HYPOTHESIS
When placed in the fridge freezer and oven, the apple will have least amount of area rot in freezer.

8. Gloves for rotting fruit (Optional)
MATERIALS
1 Apple
2 Bananas
4 Strawberries
4 Paper Plates
1 Baking Pan
3 transparency grids
Gloves for rotting fruit (Optional)

9. Procedure Buy fresh fruit from store Weigh fruit with centigram scale
Label one plate “ room temp” and draw triangle with labels “A,B,C” on them.
Repeat step 3 three times for freezer , oven, and fridge.
Place transparency grid over fruit and draw out shapes.
Record time of fruit placement.
Wait approximately 24 hours
Mark squares with any rot with transparency marker.
Count number of squares and record.
Repeat steps 7-10 for each plate for five days.

10. The Fruit

11. After five days

12. Fruit vs Rot Rate/RoomTemp___C (squares/day)
Apple A
Banana A
Strawberry A 1 2 3 6 4 9 5 14
Avg
1.8
6.2

13. Fruit vs Rot Rate/Freezer___C (squares/day)
Apple B
Banana B
Strawberry B 1 2 3 4 5
Avg

14. Fruit vs Rot Rate/Refrigerator___C (squares/day)
Apple C
Banana C
Strawberry C 1 2 3 4 5 9
Avg
0.4
2.6

15. Fruit vs Rot Rate/Oven___C (squares/day)
Apple D
Banana D
Strawberry D 1 2 3 12 4 17 5 7 23
Avg
1.2
2.6
10.4

16. Fruit vs Avg Rot Rate/Temperatures (avg. squares/5 days)
Apple A-D
Banana A-D
Strawberry A-D
Room Temp
Freezer
Refrigerator
Oven
Avg
Sq/5 days 1
1.2
0.4
1.8
2.6
6.2
10.4

17. Graph 1

18. Graph 2

19. Graph 3

20. Graph 4

21. Average Graph

22. Conclusion
When placed in the fridge freezer and oven, the apple had least amount of area rot in freezer.

23. More variables for better results Better fruit locations
Improvements/Future Studies
Wider variety of fruit
More variables for better results
Better fruit locations
More accurate calculation of rot squares
Fruits respond to light stimuli (inconsistent use of lights in locations)

24. WORKS CITED