Apples and Oranges Experiment

You can observe the effects of ethylene on fruit right in your own refrigerator! Try this simple test, and you’ll soon see why where you put your produce in the refrigerator can keep it ripe, or make it rotten!

Materials: One apple or orange, two sealable plastic storage bags, two identical soft fruits (peaches, nectarines, plums, tomatoes, bananas, avocados, or kiwis)

Procedure: Place the apple or orange in one bag, and put one of the soft fruits in the bag with it. Put the other soft fruit in the second bag. Seal the bags. Put one bag on one side of a refrigerator shelf, and the other bag on the other side of the same shelf. Observe the bags after one day. Put the bags back into the refrigerator again, and continue to observe both bags each day for a week. Then throw the bags away. Do not open them.

What happened to the fruit in the bag with the apple or orange? Did the same thing happen to the soft fruit that was in a bag by itself? If not, what caused the difference between the state of the two soft fruits? And why was it important to use identical soft fruits in each bag? Write about your experiment in your Science Journal!