Hydro Priming Seeds With Cheetos

Hydro-priming is the process of soaking seeds in water before planting. Hydro-priming decreases the time it takes seeds to germinate. For this experiment, we wanted to test how different concentrations of Cheetos in the water would affect the germination rates of pea seeds. Do you expect that Cheetos will help or hinder the germination of seeds?

Materials

For this experiment we used:
700 snow pea seeds
7 plastic cups
8 plastic bags
7 paper towels
1 meat tenderizing mallet
30 Cheetos Puffs
Sharpie to label bags and cups
A squirt bottle

Process

First we labeled each of the cups as follows: Dry, 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10. For each cup, we put the indicated number of Cheetos in a bag, then used a meat tenderizing mallet to smack the Cheetos into powder. We then dumped the Cheeto powder from the bag into the appropriate cup.

The next step was to add 1/2 cup of water to cups 0 - 10. No water was added to the cup labeled "Dry." The solutions were thoroughly mixed.

Next, 100 snow pea seeds were added to each cup, making 700 seeds total. The seeds were stirred into the solution. We let the seeds soak overnight.

The next morning we drained and cleaned the seeds from their solutions. The dry seeds were not washed. Seven paper towels were prepared by wetting them and then wringing them dry. Each cup of seeds were spread into the center of one of the moist paper towels. The towels were folded in around the seeds and placed in a resealable plastic bag. Each bag was labeled to identify the Cheeto concentration in which the seeds had soaked. 

Every 12 hours the seeds were removed from the bags so we could count the number of seeds that had germinated. The germinated seeds were removed and the results were recorded. The remaining seeds were misted with a squirt bottle to keep them moist, then rewraped in the paper towel, and put back in its plastic bag. 

Results

Here are the results. Click on the table to make it larger.

Here is a graph of the same information.

Observations

The seeds that soaked in the densest concentration of Cheetos were the only seeds that germinated after 12 hours. These concentrations also germinated the highest percentage after all but one of the periods. None of the seeds that were not primed germinated after 48 hours.

It was hard to determine if a seed had germinated. We counted it if part of the root had extended from the seed. If we were to do the experiment again we would only count them if the root were a specified length. Also, since there were so many seeds that germinated between 24 and 36 hours it might have been helpful to count the seeds every 6 or 8 hours, instead of every 12.

Conclusions

Hydro-priming definitely makes a difference. We think it is also safe to conclude that seeds primed in a solution of Cheetos germinate faster, and a higher percentage of seeds germinate compared to seeds primed in tap water. Further experimentation would be necessary to determine if the Cheeto primed seeds would be more healthy, or if the mature peas would taste like Cheetos.

Cheeto Conductivity

In this experiment we wanted to find out if Cheetos conduct electricity. For this experiment we used a multimeter, water, and various other liquids.

The test to see if Cheetos, or anything, conducts electricity is easy - turn a multimeter to the connectivity setting (it usually has a symbol that looks like a speaker), and touch the probes of the multimeter to a different side of the thing you are testing. We touched the probes to either side of a Cheeto and quickly determined that they do not conduct electricity.

To make the experiment a little more interesting, we wanted to determine if Cheetos resist or help the flow of electricity through water. This was our experiment.

1. We taped the leads of our multimeter against the sides of a plastic cup.

2. We filled the cup with water to the point were water was touching both leads.

3. We turned the meter to 2000 ohms and measured 251. This was our baseline.

4. We then crushed up several Cheetos.

5. We added the crushed Cheetos to the water and read the new measurement. It was 165.

Because the value of resistance went down, that would indicate that something in the Cheetos helps the electrons through the water from one probe to the other.  Substances that conduct electricity are called electrolytes.

Just for fun, we tested the resistance of various other liquids to see if they are electrolytes. Here are our results.

Liquid	Value
Tap Water	251
Tap Water + Cheetos	165
Milk	260
Apple Juice	350
Vinegar	29

Observations: The values of the substances changed with time, more so on the items that are normally kept cold. To get a more accurate measurement, we should probably let the items come to room temperature before testing them.

Here's a small factoid we discovered. The resistance of milk can be used to determine the health of of a cow. Here is a link to a study that was done on buffalo cows. There is a high correlation between a higher than normal resistivity in milk and infected cows.

This was a fun project. The kids liked learning to use the multimeter, and they liked coming up with different liquids to test.

Cheeto Bike Helmets

Have you ever wondered how bicycle helmets are tested? I've wondered if it was someones job to wear a helmet while a weight was dropped from progressively higher distances onto their head. After each impact they would be asked, "Did that hurt?"

In this experiment we try to answer the question, do Cheetos make an effective bike helmet?

Many kids do an egg drop experiment in school. We figured dropping an egg would be a good helmet test. If the egg in a Cheeto helmet remained unbroken when dropped, we will assume that a head wouldn't get cracked either. We started our experiment by wrapping an egg completely in Cheetos, then wrapping the Cheetos in plastic wrap.

Then we went outside and set up a ladder. We dropped the first Cheeto helmet from 10 feet up the ladder. 

We counted down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, drop.... splat. The egg broke. We did several other drops at different heights to find the maximum distance we could drop the Cheeto helmet without the egg breaking.

 

8 feet was the highest distance we could drop a helmet without the egg breaking. Using a little math and Torricelli's equation we figured the velocity of an egg dropped from 8 feet. 


"vi" in this case is 0. There is no initial velocity. 

"a" is acceleration. The only acceleration is gravity, 32 feet / second squared. 
"d" is the distance the helmet fell, 8 feet.   

Plugging in the numbers
v = sqrt( 0 + 2 * 32 feet / sec^2 * 8 feet)
v = sqrt( 512 feet ^2 / sec ^2)
v = 22.63 feet / second

If the end velocity is 22.63 feet / second, how far can it go in an hour?

(60 seconds * 60 minutes) * ( 22.63 feet / second) / (5280 feet/mile) = 15.43 mph

Simplified, you can use this formula to calculate the speed in miles per hour of an object dropped from any hight "d", measured in feet: (SQRT( 64 * d) * 3600) / 5280.

Or, here is a chart.  

Our experiment shows that a Cheeto helmet can withstand an impact of 15 miles per hour.  So would Cheetos make a suitable bike helmet? You would probably be alright if your head hit the ground slower than 15 miles per hour. Not only could the helmet protect your head, but imagine the fashion statement you could make in the neighborhood with a helmet made out of Cheetos. And it would be a convenient snack!  This was a fun Cheeto experiment that didn't take a lot of time.

For those wondering how bike helmets are actually tested, here is a video we found on YouTube that shows some actual helmet tests. They're not quite as fun, but are more practical. Perhaps we might do some accelerometer tests in the future.

Cheetos as Thermal Insulators

Suppose you are on a picnic and it's hot outside, and you would like to keep your soda cold a little longer.  You happen to have some Cheetos at the picnic. Could you keep your soda cold by wrapping the can in Cheetos?

For this experiment we took a soda out of the refrigerator, opened it, put a digital thermometer in it, and recorded the temperature every 30 seconds, for 35 minutes.

Then we took some duct tape and put cheetos on it. We learned from our last experiment that Cheetos Puffs really don't stack nicely, so we tried cutting the cheetos into straight pieces. This gave us smaller gaps between the Cheetos.  

Then wrapped the Cheetos around a cold can.

Since the can had been out of the fridge for a while as we wrapped our Cheeto insulation around it, we put the can back in the fridge for 30 minutes to let it cool back down. We then took it out and followed the same procedure, measuring the temperature every 30 seconds for 35 minutes. 

For the last part of the experiment we put a can in a foam can holder designed for the purpose of keeping cans cool. We expected this to work the best. 

During the first 10 minutes of all of the experiments the temperature of the soda fluctuated up and down. We think this had to do with the carbon dioxide bubbles being released from the soda. (If we were to do the experiment again we would use plain water.)

This charts shows our measurements of the temperature rising over time.  

Amazingly enough, the Cheetos were the best insulator with the soda rising only 3.2 degrees. The soda in the foam can insulator rose 3.7 degrees, and the plain can rose 4.4 degrees farenheit. So the next time you want to keep your soda cold, make sure you have a handful of Cheetos.

Cheetos Sound Dampeners

Suppose your little brother comes into the room playing with a loud toy while you are eating Cheetos. How well could you dampen the sound with the Cheetos? 

For this experiment we used a decibel meter on a phone to determine the loudness of a toy. It was 74 decibels. 

Then we made a helmet with Cheeto Puffs.

We placed the helmet over the phone and measured the sound level.

We measured 69 decibels. The Cheetos absorbed 5 decibels of sound.

Observations: There were a lot of holes in the helmet we constructed. We think it would have blocked more sound if we were able to fit the cheetos together better.

As a comparison, an average set of passive noice cancelling headphones can reduce noice by 20 decibels. Our Cheeto headphones managed 5. So maybe Cheeto Headphones won't be the next product featured on Shark Tank - but we can dream.

Here is a video of our experiment.