Experiment+8+-+Food+Colour

__Food Colouring __


Find out if mealworms will turn red if all of their food is dyed red with food coloring.

**//Hypothesis://** Mealworms will turn red if fed red food.

**//Prediction://** Just like with humans who consume vast amounts of beta carotene and turn orange, the mealworms will turn red if all of their food is dyed red.

//**Materials: **// Small container, red food colouring.

//**Procedure: **// We performed this experiment on three mealworms. First, water dyed with red food coloring was mixed with wheat bran. It was then spread out on a cookie sheet to dry. When dry, it was put in the small container and the mealworms were added. A few slices of apple were also placed in the container and red food coloring was added to the apple.

//**Controlled variables: **// Mealworms not fed dyed food

//**Responding Variables: **// Color of the mealworms

//**Manipulated variable: **// Food (wheat brain, apples)

//**Observation: **// Even after 10 days, worms that ate the dyed food did not show any significant changes in color. Shade has changed only slightly in comparison to the mealworms that did not eat dyed food.

//**Conclusions/Comments: **// We believe that if the mealworms were fed dyed foods for a longer amount of time, that the change in their color would be very noticeable. Because we did this experiment over a short span of time, it is unclear whether the slight change in color is due to eating the red food or just from being in a substance (wheat bran) that was dyed red. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> []