Potato chips (Photo:Emiliano Vittoriosi)
When we break open a packet of chips we almost always take it for granted that it will be crispy and fresh to eat and definitely hasn’t broken into pieces and till now I never have thought of how it is maintained this way. So this article is more about how this humble chip remains so crispy, yummy and intact. As it turns out the biggest enemy for our chips happens to be oxygen. Even though oxygen is considered a vital component for sustaining life, in this case, when food such as chips come in contact with oxygen, they go through a process of oxidation. This process renders the food to break down and eventually go bad.
To avoid oxidation of chips and give it an extended shelf life, oxygen in chips packets are replaced by nitrogen gas. This is a colorless, odorless gas which is inert in nature. This is found plentiful in nature and an essential part of life. Discovery of nitrogen happened in 1772 by 3 different chemists independently. Here are some facts about nitrogen and potato chips
- Nitrogen is represented with the symbol ‘N’ and has an atomic number of 7.
- This makes up the majority of Earth’s atmosphere.
- Researchers claim that most of the nitrogen of Earth was sourced from sources beyond Jupiter.
- Earth and Titan (Saturn’s largest moon) are the only objects of our solar system to have nitrogen as the major component of their atmosphere.
- Nitrogen gas is converted into liquid by cooling it to −196°C.
- Liquid nitrogen is used as a coolant for computers.
- In medicine liquid nitrogen is used to remove pre cancerous cells.
- The origins of the recipe for potato chips date back to 1853 to NewYork by chef George Crum.
- The frying temperature determines the quality of chips.
Even though this article started out being about potato chips, I wanted to give our readers an awareness that what we eat can be related to what we breathe to our solar system which goes on to show how we are all interconnected.
Royalty free images were used.
