Datalogging

When your chocolate company's sales begin to melt away, science comes to the rescue with datalogging! This resource has been provided by the Association for Science Education (ASE).

Chocolate is a datalogging investigation activity. It is set in the context of helping the McChocs company to make better quality dark chocolate. Students investigate a new way to crystallise liquid chocolate. Checking the quality of chocolate means accurately measuring its melting point - better chocolate is harder to melt. For this, students use temperature sensors and datalogging. They present their findings, with a scientific explanation in terms of particles, to the company directors.

This activity is best used with datalogging equipment as this will enable students to simultaneously observe and measure the temperature of the chocolate. It would also be relatively straightforward to produce graphs to show the behaviour of chocolate as it melts. However it would also be possible to do this activity with thermometers.