Jovel Queirolo
Managing Editor

The smell of burning crunchy snacks permeated the Chemistry Lab this afternoon as H period Chemistry students used a series of reactions and conversions designed to measure calories in food.
“These experiments are really helpful with understanding the material in the book,” said sophomore Natalie Sullivan. “From the pre-lab and actually watching the food burn, you can learn from doing and seeing.”
Students could measure the energy given off by the food with other chemical reactions in involving heat, such as the specific heat of water, according to Chemistry teacher Christina Cinti.
“By observing the exothermic reactions, taking measurements and using equations, the students can come up with their own measurements of how many calories are in a certain food, and then compare their findings to what professionals have found,” said Cinti.
The students burned snacks including Cheetos, Goldfish crackers and Smart Puffs under soda cans to measure the temperature of the water in the cans for their initial measurements.
“Our Cheeto fell off,” said sophomore Nini Maine.
Maine and her lab partner Jayni Webster recovered, and tried a Goldfish cracker instead.