Discussion:
Experiment A was the experiment that followed the recipe. After making observations, the cupcake was recorded as being moist, and fluffy, with an average height of 4cm and an average volume of 67 ml. This was deemed the equalizer, with which each other cupcake would be compared to.
The hypothesis for Experiment B was as follows; the cupcake will be less moist, the taste will be bitterer, and the cupcake will not rise as much as the cupcake in Experiment A due to the lessened affects of neutralization upon the sodium bicarbonate. The actual observations taken down during the experiment was written as follows; dry, dense, average height of 3.7 cm, and an average volume of 60 ml. When the cup of sour cream was removed, the neutralization effects within the cupcake were lessened as the sodium bicarbonate did not have enough of an acid to fully neutralize. Therefore, the cupcake in Experiment B did not rise as much as the cupcake in Experiment A and denser and dryer as well.
The hypothesis for Experiment C was as follows; the cupcake will have a different taste, and that since citric acid is lower on the pH scale than lactic acid, the reaction within the cupcake would be stronger. The observations recorded during Experiment C are as follows; extremely bitter taste, moist and dense, and having an average height of 2.5 cm and an average volume of 40.5 ml. When the sour cream was replaced by a cup of pure lime juice, the base, which was the sodium bicarbonate, was completely overpowered by the acid, the lime juice. Therefore, the cupcake developed a very bitter, sour taste, became moist (as there was still an acid present in the reaction) but was very dense. The strong acid overwhelmed the weaker base...