Togher N.S.

Science and The Potato

The children tested many foods using iodine to establish which foods had starch present.

The iodine turned blue/black if iodine was present, and remained brown if there was no starch present.

The children learned that the chlorophyll in the plants absorbs the energy from the sun, and that it is then used to combine the water taken up by the roots, with carbon dioxide that the plant has taken in from the atmosphere, to produce carbohydrates or sugars. These sugars are the food source and can be stored as starch.

They learned after the classes based on this topic that starch is always present in carbohydrates, such as bread, potatoes, pasta and rice.