What does a walnut cracking machine have to do with molecules?

Well, if it was not for the molecules giving the high food quality of walnuts - which are rich in essential fatty acids (including omega-3 fatty acids which help to lower cholesterol in the blood), minerals, vitamins, proteins and fibre, as well as providing calories for a healthy diet - then the nuts would not fetch a good price at market for their growers.

The machine means that more walnuts can be cracked without breaking the kernel inside, rather than each nut being cracked individually by hand.

The walnut husk can also be used to make a yellow dye for colouring fabric.

So, the needs of the local people and their traditional methods and materials combined with the science of young minds, sometimes from other lands, can solve everyday problems for the benefit of all.

Action:

How many items can you fit into a walnut shell?  Sounds trivial, but lots of good things to think about relating to sizes of everyday items, and analogies to atoms, molecules...

Ever thought that the brain looks rather like a walnut? - look here to see the similarity

Linking science - using walnut dye as an example - with art, history and the environment (activities for an integrated approach to teaching science)

Ask Chris (in the video) a question in the Forum - click here