Stairway to Leaven

Have you ever wondered why we put what we do in our cakes? A box cake mix simply uses eggs, oil, water, and mix and poof you have a cake! Why does baking from scratch have to be so dang hard? Unfortunately the answer lies in the chemistry of it all. Whether you enjoy it or not, baking is simply chemistry at its finest using a variety of ingredients to create all kinds of reactions. These reactions that need to occur are what make baking such a tedious and time-consuming task, so what do we need to know before we get started.

One of the major components in baking, whether it is a cake you are interesting in making or delicious chocolate chip cookies, is sodium bicarbonate. Not sure what I’m talking about, then take a look in your pantry for the orange box of baking soda and you have found sodium bicarbonate. This chemical has many other uses such as cleaning you stove top, freshening your fridge, or curing your stomach acid, but we are going to look particularly at its use in baking (Breyer, n.d., para. 5).

Minion Cake by Caitlyn Tink

Let’s walk through the steps. First, you mix together all you wet ingredients such as eggs, oil or butter, water and sugar. Then comes the fun part of adding sodium bicarbonate, better known in the baking world as baking soda. Baking soda begins its reaction during this aqueous phase of your batter (Edwards, 2007, p. 71). It is soluble in water so will begin to dissolve when being mixed in; you may even see some bubbles occurring which is simply the reaction taking place before your eyes (Schlager, 2006, p. 723). Then, baking powder, flour, and salt are typically added to the mix, and we are going to specifically look at the baking powder. Baking soda and baking powder react with each other as baking soda is a base and baking powder is an acid, causing the release of water and C0₂ (Edwards, 2007, p. 71). Once combined you are ready to bake your cake!

Penguin Cake by Caitlyn Tink

        One last reaction is actually occurring while your cake is in the oven and your anxiously awaiting the timer to go. The heat from the oven is adding an extra reaction to the sodium bicarbonate as it has a melting point of about 50 degrees Celsius (Schlager, 2006, p. 723). The extra CO₂ release from this reaction allows your cake to rise up nice and high (Edwards, 2007, p. 71). Without adding the sodium bicarbonate into your baking, the end result would be a very flat cake. Baking powder could be a substitute to baking soda however because this is such a delicate reaction make sure to do your homework on what proportions you need (New Health Guide, 2016, para. 2).  

Now, if you are wondering whether this chemical compound is safe for you to be mixing in your chocolate cake the answer is yes. Within baking, sodium bicarbonate is added in such low doses and undergoes such an extensive reaction that the amount that is entering your body is extremely low if not nonexistent. Even if you felt daring and wanted to try eating a spoonful of baking soda on it’s own, the most it will do is reduce the pH in your stomach and urine due to is being a base (Schlager, 2006, p. 726). In other words, it’s harmless, meaning more reason to eat cake right?

References:

Breyer, M. (n.d.). 51 Fantastic Uses for Baking Soda. Retrieved March 3, 2016, from http://www.care2.com/greenliving/51-fantastic-uses-for-baking-soda.html

Edwards, W. P. (2007). The Science of Bakery Products. Retrieved from http://library.mtroyal.ca:2052/lib/mtroyal/reader.action?docID=10618825

New Health Guide. (2016). Baking Soda Substitutes. Retrieved March 3, 2016, from http://www.newhealthguide.org/Baking-Soda-Substitute.html

Schlager, N., Weisblatt, J., & Newton, D. E. (2006). Chemical compounds. Detroit, MI: UXL.

Tink, C. (2016). Minion Cake. [Photograph]

Tink, C. (2016). Penguin Cake. [Photograph]

 What Looks like Kool-Aid...

Tastes like Kool-Aid... 

but IS NOT Kool-Aid?

                                         

  Retrieved from: http://richardsdriving.co.uk/showme/

I’m sure many of us have found ourselves shaking our heads while staring blankly under the hood of a vehicle. Ever wondered what the reservoir of bright Kool-Aid coloured fluid is under there? In conversations about engine fluids, you may have encountered the word antifreeze. Although the term antifreeze suggests that it solely prevents freezing, it also plays an equal role in preventing engines from overheating². Consequently, antifreeze is also sometimes called coolant. Although antifreeze/coolant is not the hottest topic of conversation (ha-ha), it is vital to the proper functioning of every motor vehicle.

How does antifreeze manage to complete such opposite tasks? The active ingredient in antifreeze is typically ethylene glycol¹. Ethylene glycol has a freezing point of -13 °C and a boiling point of 197°C². This means that, by adding ethylene glycol to water, we prevent water from freezing at 0°C or boiling at 100°C, as it normally would if ethylene glycol were not added. In general, antifreeze/coolant prevents engine damage by ensuring that the water involved does not freeze or boil.

So, how is antifreeze made? First, ethylene glycol is produced through the hydration of a chemical known as ethylene oxide¹. Ethylene glycol is then added to water at varying concentrations¹. Interestingly, mixing ethylene glycol with water produces a clear colourless liquid, which is then died a particular colour to differentiate it from other types of antifreeze¹. Also, we can assume that adding colour to antifreeze also makes it easier to see in a reservoir. 

While ethylene glycol is characterized by a deceiving sweet taste, ingesting the chemical is very toxic¹. Symptoms of ingestion include: nausea, vomiting, cardiac problems, and many more¹. Current studies on the toxicity of ethylene glycol suggest that ingestion of this chemical causes fatal kidney damage^1,4. Fortunately, potentially harmful doses of ethylene glycol are generally only encountered in vehicle engines. If a particular vehicle emergency arises, the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) suggests wearing protective equipment for safe handling³. Overall, ethylene glycol is a very purposeful compound that is primarily used for antifreeze, and in some cases, the manufacturing of other materials such as polyester². Although you could have guessed it to be toxic, hopefully you’ve gained a better understanding of how ethylene glycol’s properties make it an excellent antifreeze (or coolant!).   

                                               Retrieved from: http://knowhow.napaonline.com/choose-the-correct-antifreeze-for-your-import-vehicle/

References

 ¹Ethylene Glycol. (2006). In N. Schlager, J. Weisblatt, & D. E. Newton (Eds.), Chemical Compounds (Vol. 2, pp. 313-316). Detroit: UXL. Retrieved from http://library.mtroyal.ca:2200/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3441700086&v=2.1&u=mtroyalc&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=d4159e5eec8d06229cc399af9d711329

²Rebsdat, S. & Mayer, D. (2000). Ullmann’s Enclycopedia of Industrial Chemistry. Retrieved from http://library.mtroyal.ca:2183/doi/10.1002/14356007.a10_101/full

³Material Safety Data Sheet - Antifreeze. (2001). Retrieved from

https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/ftp/tch/external/!publish/ems2/supplements/TCH-MSDS/Antifreeze_MSDS.pdf

⁴ TOXNET. (2013). Ethylene Glycol. U.S. National Library of Medicine.  Retrieved from http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search2/f?./temp/~dfyrNA:3

Dangerously Sweet: Xylitol Polyalcohol Sweetener

Alice Liboiron
March 17, 2016

         


      Xylo-Pentane-1,2,3,4,5-pentol, better known as xylitol, may be familiar to you if you are a diabetic, or if you are trying to watch your girlish figure. For those who still want sweets but not the calories, xylitol only contains 40% of the calories that regular table sugar does⁴. Xylitol is found in many plants such as berries, oats, corn, lettuce and mushrooms. It can also be found naturally in our bodies from the digestion of carbohydrates⁴. Like many sweeteners, xylitol appears like large white crystals, and can be extracted from xylan, a structural compound found in birch trees and corn husks¹.                                                                                     

Xylitol under a microscope is pretty like a Jackson Pollock 

painting. Photo by Carl Hennig, retrieved from Microbe Hunter⁵

         As a five carbon "sugar alcohol", xylitol is used to sweeten diabetic treats such as gum, mints, and candies due to the fact that sugar alcohols do not cause an insulin "spike" in our bodies. When we eat a meal, our body senses the incoming sugars, glucose and fructose mainly, and releases insulin into the blood stream. From here, insulin causes the liver to convert and store blood sugars as glycogen, and allows muscle cells to absorb glucose from the blood stream to create energy. People who are diabetic either do not produce enough insulin to do this, or do not react strongly to insulin anymore⁷. Xylitol does not cause insulin to be released because it does not increase blood sugar levels⁴ .

"Do you have any gum?" Retrieved from VIN News Service (2)

Xylitol is not dangerous for humans in any serious way. Too much in one day may cause diarrhea and bloating, and it would take a mouse chewing through approximately five sticks of Trident sugar free gum to cause death^6,8. But in dogs, goats, rabbits, and baboons, xylitol causes vomiting, excessive salivation, seizures, and death³. This is because of how it is broken down by the bodies of other animals. Instead of causing no insulin spike as in humans, dogs experience an insulin spike six times higher than what you would expect after eating your lunch³! This means that all that insulin goes to work storing and converting sugars in the blood, working overtime to lower blood sugar. Dogs become severely hypoglycemic from this, much the way you might feel after not eating for an extended period of time. If dogs experiencing xylitol poisoning do not receive a concentrated source of sugar, such as dextrose, they can experience permanent liver damage and death³. It can be very expensive to treat pets who have experienced xylitol poisoning, so it is best to choose other sugar alcohols such as mannitol to sweeten your coffee, otherwise Fido might find the whole ordeal sickeningly sweet.

1. Chen, X., Jiang, Z.-H., Chen, S., & Qin, W. (2010). Microbial and Bioconversion Production of D-xylitol and Its Detection and Application. International Journal of Biological Sciences, 6(7), 834–844.     

           2.    DeGioia, P. (2012, January). Awareness of xylitol toxicity in dogs still lacking Reported cases                                        of poisoning on the  rise. Retrieved March 9, 2016, from The VIN News Service :                   http://news.vin.com/VINNews.aspx?articleId=21365

          3.    Dunayer, E. K. (2006, December 1). New findings on the effects of xylitol ingestion in dogs.     Retrieved March 9, 2016, from dvm360:http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/new-findings-effects-xylitol-ingestion-dogs?id=&pageID=1&sk=&date=

4. Gunnars, K. (2015, November). Xylitol: Everything Need to Know (Literally). Retrieved March 7, 2016  from Authority Nutrition: https://authoritynutrition.com/xylitol-101/
5.  Hennig, C. (2014, September 8). Microscopy Forum – Xylitol. A sweetener with a large footprint. Retrieved March 9, 2016, from Microbe Hunters Microscopy Magazine: http://www.microbehunter.com/forum/specimens-samples-and-slides/xylitol-a-sweetener-with-a-large      footprint/
6. Kent, L. T. (2015, April 22). Dangers of Xylitol. Retrieved March 8, 2016,                from LIVESTRONG: http://www.livestrong.com/article/85091-                   dangers-xylitol/

7. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.                                      (June). Causes of Diabetes. (U. D. Services, Producer) Retrieved March 17, 2016, from National Institutes of Health (NIH):http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-topics/Diabetes/causes-diabetes/Pages/index.aspx

      8. O'Neil, M. J. (2006). The Merck index: An encyclopedia of chemicals,                                               drugs, and biologicals. Whitehouse Station, N.J: Merck.