Date: Sun, 13 Apr 1997 16:33:17 -0700
From: Guido van Rijn <vanrijn@pacbell.net>
To: pinhole@exploratorium.edu
Subject: Re: Calorimeter
Pinhole Listserv wrote:
>
> I'm curious about non-sugar sweeteners, such as Sweet'n Low. The
> main ingredient is calcium saccharin. I tried burning some and, although
> it was difficult, I did get some to burn. The package says zero calories.
> Does this imply that some materials, and possibly some foods, will give
> an artificially high calorie count in an calorimeter because, although they
> will burn, the body will not use them?
>
> John
> ***************************************
> * John C. and Jan H. Lahr *
> * jlahr@polarnet.com *
> * P.O. Box 83245, Fairbanks, AK 99708 *
> * (907) 474-7997 *
> * http://www2.polarnet.com/~lahr *
> * http://giseis.alaska.edu/Input/lahr *
> ***************************************
Calories are simply a quantifiable measure of heat energy a substance
contains. It says nothing about its "digestability". Gasoline, for
example, containes plenty of calories per gram, however it would not do
very well as a food subsance. Students could do calorimetry experiments
with popcorn or wooden match sticks. Since they are both carbohydrates
each will idealy release about three calories per gram.
Guido van Rijn
Burlingame HS