Preserving Milk with Household Items: A Scientific Approach

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around methods to preserve milk using only household items for a science project, focusing on theoretical approaches and practical implementations without the use of chemicals or external power sources. Participants explore various ideas for insulation and cooling techniques.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Experimental/applied

Main Points Raised

  • One participant proposes using a cut coke bottle encased in Styrofoam with a foil cover to create an airtight environment for preserving milk.
  • Another participant questions the need to cut the bottle and suggests using the Styrofoam to surround the intact bottle instead.
  • There is a suggestion to build a homemade thermos and to consider using water to surround the bottle to maintain a cooler temperature.
  • One participant expresses uncertainty about the effectiveness of a homemade thermos in preserving milk for five days.
  • A later reply introduces the idea of cooling by evaporation as a potential method to explore.
  • Another participant recommends adding insulation to the top of the setup and suggests measuring the cooling performance over time with a thermometer.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants present multiple competing views on the best method to preserve milk, with no consensus reached on a single approach. Uncertainty remains regarding the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Contextual Notes

Participants have not fully explored the implications of their proposed methods, such as the specific conditions required for effective insulation or the limitations of each approach in maintaining milk preservation over the specified time period.

Ronaldo95163
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Cheers guys

We were given a science project to preserve the following using only household items for 5 dats...Chemicals may not be used as well as any external power source like an outlet:
Bread
Milk
and a mystery item which would be presented to us on the day.


One of our teammates already opted for the bread so I decided to go for the milk


My plan was to use a coke bottle, something like this:

coca%20cola.jpg


and cut it half way and use the cylindrical part

Then get some Styrofoam

5891679529_6957459ca9.jpg


and carve it in such a way so that I would be able to insert the half of the coke bottle I'm using into it then make a cover out of styrofoam to make an airtight as possible cover for it to prevent air and moisture from getting down into it.

Afterwards then wrap the entire thing with foil to reflect any radiant energy.

What are your thoughts on it?
Would it be able to keep the milk preserved for the given time period?
 
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why cut the bottle? it would hold the milk far better than the styrofoam and cylinder.

Use the styrofoam to surround the bottle instead.

Can you build a thermos?

Can you use water to surround the bottle?

It seems you'd need to keep the milk cold or create powdered milk...
 
Yes I can build the thermos...it was my idea at first. I sketchy about it because I wasn't sure if a homemade thermos would be able to keep the milk preserved for 5 days
Water can also be used to surround the bottle too..I would have to keep the water in an insulated environment to prevent it from getting warm though
 
Last edited:
have you investigated cooling by evaporation?
 
Sorry for the late reply...I haven't tried that...I went with plan A

This is how it came out:
 

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not bad i'd put some added a styro/foil cap on the top too (insulation is thinner there) to make it a totally wrapped cube and then test to see how long it can keep an ice cube to ice water cold. measure via thermometer same time once a day or once every x hours and plot it out to see cooling loss.
 

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