What does a Calorie really mean? How much harder would it be to eat that doughnut or that cookie if you realize how much work you must do to burn off those food Calories? What if those calories cost the same as electrical energy? Would you eat the doughtnut or the cookie then?

  Objectives:

• To calculate the energy contained in an item of food.
• To determine how high you would have to climb to do an equivalent amount of work.
• To calculate the equivalent cost of electrical energy.

  Materials:

• Food item for each student or student pair (such as a doughnut or a cookie) of known caloric content.
• Bathroom scale
• Meter sticks or measuring tape

  Procedure:

1. Determine the caloric content of your food item. A typical doughnut has 230 Calories.
   • Remember - 1 food Calorie equals 1000 calories.
2. Calculate the energy content of your food item in Joules.
3. Determine an equivalent amount of work that you must perform to "burn off" the energy.
   • Suggestion: Students can measure the vertical height of stairs in the school and calculate an equivalent amount of work they must perform by climing the stairs.
   • Remember - 1 kg = 2.20 lb

  Electrical Energy Equivalent:   Students may use the following information to calculate how much the energy in their food item would cost if it were priced at the same rate as electrical energy. The rates quoted are valid for Houston, TX, June, 2001.

• Residential service cost: $0.022500 per KWH for the first 250 KWH
• 0.076518 per KWH for all additional KWH
• 0.0382370 per KWH for fuel factor charges
• 0.0069640 per KWH for fuel surcharge
• 0.0002350 per KWH for fuel surcharge interest