Apples (61 Near Nature Experiments)

You will need:

1. 3 slices of a freshly cut
   apple
2. Lemon juice
3. Water
4. Bowl
5. Pen and paper

Have you ever asked your parent to cut an apple and give it to you only to find that it is turning brown? Does that mean that the apple is spoilt? Find out with this experiment.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Take 3 slices of a freshly cut apple, and submerge one slice in a bowl of
   water till it gets covered.
2. Take another slice of apple and coat it completely with lemon juice.
3. Leave the third slice the way it is.
4. Wait for half an hour and note down your observations of all 3 slices.

RESULT

The slice of an apple covered in water will not have turned brown. The slice coated with lemon juice completely binds with the oxygen, keeping the oxygen away from the apple. Finally, the last slice which was left open would have turned brown. But that does not mean that it has gone bad. Certain enzymes in apples, such as polyphenol oxidase and catechol oxidase, react to the oxygen in the air and also react simultaneously to the iron or copper content in the apple, making it brown. While water and lemon juice cover the skin of the apple, the apple slice left open is exposed to the oxidation process that takes place between the enzymes, oxygen and iron/copper.