Breaking the Boundaries of Physics and Food

For many, physics seems like an impossibly complicated science, a standalone subject that doesn’t interact with other fields. We attended PhysCon 2019 with the expectation that we would learn about this “complicated stuff.” Although we did learn about some very interesting scientific developments, we also discovered that physics reaches into almost every part of our daily lives.

Take a subject that interests us all: food! Food production constitutes a surprisingly high portion of our carbon emissions—nearly a cubic meter of CO₂ is produced for each meal cooked. In the PhysCon workshop Cooking as a Context for Physics and Politics, Appalachian State University professor Carla Ramsdell explained some simple changes we can implement while cooking to reduce our environmental impact. One thermodynamically motivated change is to use cast-iron pans, since the heat stays concentrated near the center, where most of the cooking happens. She also encouraged us to use only as much water as we need to do a job. Most people boil a box of pasta in five cups of water when two will do the trick. Heating the extra water wastes energy.

Not only did Ramsdell describe the importance of considering energy while cooking, but she also helped us connect the two fields directly. Before the workshop started, she had us each count out 60 strands of uncooked pasta noodles, then showed us how to boil them in our PhysCon thermoses. By the end of the workshop, we had each made an easy, environmentally friendly pasta dish that tasted great!