Science Projects: Which Cheese Melts Faster?

Science involves processes that people often want to rush through or even bypass. For example, to test the melting rate of various cheeses you might pick any number of cheeses, cut off pieces, and melt them. This method is too haphazard and will not give you correct results. This project must be well planned and organized. Only then will you know which cheese melts the fastest.

The first step in any science project is to research your topic — in this case cheese. Look into how they are made, their ingredients lists, the texture, time left to cure and type of culturing bacteria. Use this information along with prior observations to develop your hypothesis. A hypothesis states what you think the outcome will be. For example, "If I melt both cream cheese and brie, then the brie will melt faster."

There are many ways you can approach this project. One way is to compare the melting rate of different cheeses that have the same brand. Another is to compare different brands of the same type of cheese. Or you can compare different levels of sharpness of a cheese or the melting rate of processed versus non-processed cheese.

Gather your materials. Choose your melting temperature and the amount of cheese you will test at each time. Use a relatively low temperature or the cheese will burn. Put a piece of cheese in a clean pan on a preheated stove. Using a stop watch, immediately begin timing the process. Once the cheese has melted record your data (time). Repeat this procedure for the same cheese choice a minimum of five times. Once you have completed five or more trials, move on to your next type or brand of cheese. Continue until all your samples are melted. A word of caution; be very careful around heat. Only do this with parental approval.

Put your data into a table. Label your rows with the names of your cheeses and the columns with the trial numbers. Indicate the units of temperature used: Celsius or Fahrenheit. Finally calculate the average melting temperature of each cheese and use this information to make a bar graph. Use your data to state your conclusion: which cheese melts the fastest.