What day is it today? BIOLOGY DAY! Our first topic covered the essentials of a balanced diet. We tested various cereals to determine their iron content using a magnet. Frosted flakes came out on top!

Next, we learned why our dentists tell us not to drink pop! We used pH paper and phenolphthalein to rank different types of pop according to their acidity. We mixed pop and water in an Erlenmeyer flask and added phenolphthalein with a dropper until we noticed a permanent colour change. Gingerale was the least acidic, while mountain dew contained the most acidity.

The girls enjoyed a rapid game of Catch the Bacon after lunch – the sun was shining bright!

Our afternoon started with an explanation of enzymes. Did you know you can’t add fresh pineapples to jello? The enzymes in the pineapples eat up the gelatin preventing it from solidifying into jello. The girls demonstrated this by adding fresh, frozen, and canned pineapples to a jello solution. The fresh and frozen pineapple solutions did not solidify, while the canned pineapple jello did! This is because canned pineapples are processed, which removes the enzymes! Cool stuff!

Finally, after snack break, we checked out a pre-dissected dogfish shark! Gross but awesome!  We wrapped up the day with some Shark Jeopardy – winners wereteam  SHARK ATTACK!

Another great day at Camp GEMS! Tomorrow is GEMS spirit day and the open house!

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