Early last week we learned about the Ancient Egyptians health beliefs and their understanding (or lack of it!) of how our bodies work. Of course the topic of mummification came up. My children were thrilled that our anatomy book included an experiment to mummify an apple. 
We took two apples and peeled them. One went into a bowl. The other was also put into a bowl, but it was covered and surrounded by a mix of baking soda and salt. Both were put up on a high shelf in the cupboards for a week. Yesterday we pulled them down. As we scraped away the salt mixture from our mummified apple we discovered that there was now a space of about 3/4” all the way around the apple. 
Why? Well, as you touched the salt mixture you could tell it was damp. The apple had shrunk as the water was drawn out into the salt mixture. It has turned brown, but is not rotting at all. It was very neat!
The other apple has started to rot in spots and is getting mushy. Eww.
2 comments:
This is so much fun. We did it with a chicken last year and the results were amazing but more amazing was how much more the kids learned about the whole process. You just have to love learning don't you!
Awesome. Now you just need to wait a few more weeks exposed to the air and examine the mold & mildew colonies under a microscope or magnifying glass.:)
Science in action rocks. :)
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