Smello+Jello

**Title** Jello Fun

Problem Scenario
Have you ever smelled food and then ate it and it taste like what it smells like? Well in this experiment I am going to try to see if that is true. To do this I will use jello.

Broad Question
How does smell affect taste?

Specific Question
How does lack of smell affect the taste of 3 different jellos?

Hypothesis
It is hypothesized that when the person who plugs their nose eats the jello it will be harder to taste the jello than it is unplugging your nose.

Independent Variable:
Strawberry, Raspberry, and Blackberry jello

Dependent Variable:
The taste of the jello

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:
The person that doesn't plug nose whiling eating the jello and the amount of jello that each person gets

General Plan
I have to blindfold each person. Then 'i have them smell all the jello. They then have to plug their nose while I feed then the jello. After each bite they have to identify the jello based on the smell. Then I do that all over again but without the person blocking their nose when they eat.

**Potential Problems And Solutions** Someone could choke. To prevent that I would have to be very careful feeding people the jello.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns
I could stab someone with a spoon by accident. To prevent that I should maybe have them feed themselves.

Experimental Design
(add the correct headings from the experimental design page before beginning)

Resources and Budget Table

 * Item || Number needed || Where I will get this || Cost ||
 * Strawberry Jello || 1 packs || Hannaford || 1.00 ||
 * Raspberry Jello || 1 packs || Hannaford || 1.00 ||
 * Blackberry || 1 packs || Hannaford || 1.00 ||
 * bowls || 3 || Home ||  ||
 * Spoons || 15 || Home ||  ||

Detailed Procedure

 * 1) Put all three jellos in three separate bowls
 * 2) Blindfold one person
 * 3) Then have them smell each jello but tell them what the flavor is after they smell it
 * 4) Feed them each jello with their nose plugged and blindfold still on
 * 5) After each bite have them tell you what the flavors where
 * 6) Record data based on if they get the flavor right or not
 * 7) Repeat steps 1-6 but without the person blocking their nose
 * 8) But when there nose is unplugged have them qouckley smell the jello as it is going into their mouth

Photos






Conclusion
I have found that my hypothesis is correct. When you plug your nose while eating the jello it is harder to taste the flavor. When your nose is unplugged you are able to taste the jello a lot better. This probably happened because people could smell the jello as it was going into their mouth. That way they could have figured out the jello flavor based on the smell.

Discussion
For my experiment I was basically trying to figure out how smell affects taste. My question is How does lack of smell affect the taste of 3 different jellos? To do this I gathered 6 people. With a blind fold on, each person had to smell the jello. I told them what the flavor was after they smelled it. (Strawberry, Raspberry and Blackberry). Then I fed them each a mouth full of jello and had them define what the flavor was. They had to taste it twice: once with their nose plugged, and once with out their nose unplugged. The results of this experiment was just as I expected they were going to be. People tasted the jello better when their nose was unplugged. When looking at the graph you will see that people guessed the flavor correctly, when their nose was unplugged, almost 2 times more than they did when their nose was plugged. Therefore my hypothesis was correct!

Benefit to Community and/or Science
When you have a cold your nose is all stuffed up, therefore you can't smell right? This project could help people understand why you can't taste when your nose is clogged or plugged.

Background Research
We have our tongues which have taste buds on them, and these are responsible for picking up the four and some people may think five main tastes which are bitter, sweet, sour, salty, and savory or ‘umami’. So your nose helps out a lot with your taste. When you eat any kind of food your taste buds pick up on a little bit of the flavor, but your nose actually tastes the rest for you, by smelling the odor that comes from the food. That odor travels up your nose and signals your brain that you've picked up certain different chemicals in the food. This works together with your taste buds to create the true flavor.

**References**

Abstract
Have you ever smelled something and then ate it and found that it taste like what it smells like? In my experiment I tested that. My question was "How does lack of smell affect the taste of three different jellos?" My hypothesis stated that when people plugged their nose it will be harder to taste the jello then it is when they had their nose unplugged. The three flavors of jello was strawberry, raspberry and blackberry. I gathered 6 people to do my experiment. I had each person smell the jello with a blindfold on. After they smelled it I told them what the flavor was. Then I had them plug their nose while I fed them a spoon full of each flavor. After they ate it they had to tell me what the flavor was. They do this all over again but without their nose plugged. I recorded data based on whether they guessed the flavor right or not. After doing my experiment I found that people can taste better when their nose was not plugged.