Fruit Project

By: Joey Fernandez and Evan Grzeszczak

What our project is about

In our project, we are testing the outer layers of each fruit by filling them up with air and see

how much each fruit can take.

Hypothesis

According to Boyles Law, if you add pressure, the volume decreases, but we are doing the opposite, we are adding pressure to the

inside, so the outside volume is decreasing, or the fruit’s volume is increasing. Using this

knowledge, we think the kiwi would withstand the most psi because it has the most flexible

skin.

Materials

• Air Pump• Air Pump Needle• Air Pump Gauge• Watermelon• Cantaloupe• Apple• Banana

•2 Grapefruits•Grape•Kiwi•Towel•Video Camera•Clementine

Variables (Constant)

• Where we tested the fruits• How we tested them• How we added the air• How we measured the psi

Variables (Independent)

• The fruit (Watermelon, Cantaloupe, Grape, Grapefruit, Orange, Apple, Kiwi, and Banana)

Variables (External)

• Temperature• Wind• Weather• Size of Fruit• The Strength of the air pump• Position• Human Interaction

ProcedureTo test our hypothesis, Joey bought the fruit while Evan got the air pump

and nozzle. After we had gathered all of our materials, we set up our testing spot in Evan’s garage thus taking out the external variables

wind, weather, and temperature. Then we laid down an old towel to make clean up easier. Next we loaded up the air pump to 100 psi.

Evan’s dad attached the nozzle to the air pump. We laid down the first fruit on its side. Joey watched the air pump gauge, Evan’s dad video taped, and Evan inserted the needle into the side of the fruit. Joey and Evan switched jobs for every fruit. At the breaking point of the

fruit, Joey or Evan looked at the gauge and recorded how far the needle on the gauge moved. After repeating the process for every fruit, we put our data into graphs. While looking at the graphs, we

analyzed our data and found our conclusion.

Observations

When we were testing our hypothesis, we noticed a few things that repeated. One of those things was that the fruits either exploded into fourths, halves, or just a small hole where we

inserted the needle. Second, The fruit with the hardest outer layer seemed to withstand more psi. Those were the

watermelon and the cantaloupe. Also, all of the fruit didn’t split where we inserted the needle except for the grape and one of the grapefruits. The kiwi, apple, orange and the first

grapefruit, split in half but not all of the way. The watermelon and cantaloupe split into fourths but not completely. The

banana split on one of the seams, but only the peel was split.

Now We Hope You Enjoy the video

Conclusion

Basically, we split the fruits into three different categories, the skins, the peels, and the shells. The skins were the grape, the apple, and the kiwi. The peels were the banana, the orange, and the grapefruits. The

shells were the cantaloupe, and the watermelon. It seems that the skins could take the least PSI, splitting at about 6 PSI. The peels did a

little better, because they could expand more. They usually split at around 8 PSI. The shells did the best overall. Since the air had more

trouble breaking out of a hard outer layer, it took about 22 PSI to break.

We thought the kiwi would withstand the most air pressure, but our data shows otherwise. It seems that the combination of a strong outer layer, a dense core, and a great volume would withstand the most PSI. That is why the watermelon and the cantaloupe had the two highest

scores.

The End

For more information, or for any questions or comments go to Evan’s or Joey’s blog.

Thank You