The Chemistry of Christmas

Thanksgiving dinner 2008 was an historic one for the Bernsteins. It was the first time we substituted two turkey breasts for one turkey. Why did we break from tradition, you ask? None of us likes the dark meat.

This seemed like a reasonable decision, but last week it caused a minor problem for the second year in a row. It seems that it takes longer to roast two turkey breasts to perfection than it does for one, and one of the two always is finished first. So for the second year in a row we had to employ the supreme chef's last resort - the ubiquitous microwave oven - to cook one of them thoroughly. And for the second straight year one pop-up thermometer popped while the breast was still a tad pink. We like our poultry well-done.

Why am I talking about Thanksgiving now, you also may ask? The reason: Christmas is approaching and it occurs to me that the really neat stuff we included in a news release and special video on the Chemistry of Thanksgiving would work very nicely in a story about the delicious feast many have for Christmas. Like Thanksgiving, tables once again will be loaded with platters of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, etc. And the news release and video are filled with answers to interesting scientific questions like:

• Why do people eat mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving Day but not mashed paper towels?  That's not such an odd question from a chemistry standpoint because potato and paper are almost as similar as two peas in a pod in terms of the carbohydrates they contain.
• How does the pop-up timer in a turkey work?
• Why do muffins rise, even when made without yeast?
• Which antacids neutralize the most stomach acid?

The video features Diane Bunce, Ph.D., recipient of the ACS Helen Free Award for Public Outreach, who discusses holiday fare in a demonstration at The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C. Bunce is a professor of chemistry at CUA and associate editor for Chemical Education research for ACS' Journal of Chemical Education.

To watch the video, go to www.BytesizeScience.com, and to read the news release, go to Christmas dinner.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.