You probably don't think of a supermarket as a science laboratory. After all, you go to a supermarket to buy food, cleaning supplies, or paper products—not to conduct experiments. The truth is every aisle, shelf, nook, and cranny of a supermarket could be the source of a scientific wonder. All you have to do is take the time to look around and use your imagination. Items found in the produce aisle can teach you about biology. The aisle with cleaning products offers all kinds of lessons in chemistry. The dairy aisle can teach you something about science too. Wherever you look, you can study the sciences.
The order and location of the aisles and the arrangement of the shelves have all been carefully designed to get customers to buy as much as possible. The strategies used by supermarket designers are based on the science of psychology, which looks at the behavior of human beings.
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE - IS WHAT YOU SEE WHAT YOU GET?
Why Is Food Packaged?
A Big Trick: The Size of Detergent Containers
Fooling the Senses
CHAPTER TWO - PRODUCE SECTION
Fruits and Vegetables
How Water Travels Through Plants
Crying in the Kitchen
Popcorn! Get Your Fresh Popcorn Here!
CHAPTER THREE - SUPERMARKET STAPLES
Going, Going, Gone
It's a Delicate Balance
A Closer Look at Density
Not a Drop to Drink
Rock Candy
CHAPTER FOUR - PASTA, MACARONI, SPAGHETTI, AND OTHER NOODLES
CHAPTER FIVE - THE SODA AISLE
It's All About Pressure
Diet vs. Regular: Which Weighs More?
CHAPTER SIX - CLEANING SUPPLIES
Soap: A Brief History
How Soap Cleans
Pure or Pure Malarkey?
Detergents
The Laundry Blues
Cleaning with Scratchy Stuff
The Mohs' Scale: What Does Harder Mean?
CHAPTER SEVEN - GETTING STUFF OUT OF BOTTLES
Aerosol Spray Cans and Bottles
Spray Cans
Spray Bottles
Baby Bottles
CHAPTER EIGHT - THE COOLER AND FREEZER AISLES
Some Cool Questions (and Answers)
CHAPTER NINE - THE DAIRY CASE
Where Does Cream Come From?
How to Whip Cream
Before It's Butter
I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream
APPENDIX
GLOSSARY
