Welcome to our very first experimental session! We are delighted to bring the topic 'Can we eat water?' into discussion along with a demonstration conducted. Hosted by both our core and official members: Thaara, Jing Xean, Jing Ren, Jing Yan and Darshinie, we have successfully made bubbles of water whilst bringing up awareness about environmental problems and the science behind these bubbles.

Did you know around 80% of plastic water bottles end up in landfills and that it takes up to 1,000 years for every single bottle to decompose?! This is a significantly detrimental effect that is brought to our environment; therefore Ooho! (a bite-sized blob of water) was invented and introduced to the public by a start-up company named Skipping Rocks Lab. The idea was originally developed for molecular gastronomy by chef Ferran Adrià as part of his creation of a new type of cuisine that aims to, in his own words, "provide unexpected contrasts of flavour, temperature and texture" by using chemical techniques to produce unusual dishes. This bite-sized blob of water is surrounded by a membrane, and if you choose not to eat it, it is completely fine as the membrane is biodegradable - eradicating the use of plastic bottles.

Next, it's THE demonstration time!

For our demonstration, we found some sources of information online and decided to recreate what was seen in the videos. However, due to safety reasons, our laboratory technicians strongly encouraged us to use our own apparatus, instead of the ones that are used in the school labs, since those might be contaminated with chemicals that we've dealt with during our science experiments. Therefore, we gathered up all the required apparatus and ingredients from both online and from the best house - Rosebery! (haha). Some main materials to be prepared are sodium alginate and calcium lactate (which helps to form the edible membrane). Then, to the fun part, the steps to create edible water bubbles are:

1. Firstly, mix 1 gram of sodium alginate with 1 cup of water (~230ml) until no powder remains. Leave it for 15 minutes to remove any air bubbles.

2. Mix 5 grams of calcium lactate with 5 cups of water (~ 1000ml)

3. Use a rounded spoon to scoop the sodium alginate solution and gently place it into the calcium lactate solution. Wait for 3 minutes and a ball will form. The longer you wait the thicker it will be.

4. Put the ball in another small bowl with water - to stop the chemical reaction. Now you can remove it and eat it!

The science behind it - how does it work?

1. Both sodium alginate and calcium lactate are the main components. A process called spherification takes place where liquid gets held together within soft spherical capsules.

2. Sodium alginate is a hydrocolloid (a substance that forms a gel in water) and calcium lactate has calcium ions (2+), which are attracted to the carboxylate group (COO-) of alginate, creating a gel membrane that encapsulates the water.

3. The calcium ions from calcium lactate replace sodium atoms in the alginate and bind the molecules together.

4. Unlike sodium, calcium has two positive charges. This lets it bond to two alginate chains at once, tangling them up.

5. After two to five minutes, enough of the alginate molecules have polymerised together to form a stable skin and water will be encapsulated in its liquid form at the center.

Our demonstration went really successfully and we loved the audience participation. Everyone was curious and some couldn't wait to get their hands on making their own edible water bubble, while others watched in awe. Although only a few remained intact by the end of the session, being able to bring awareness of reducing the use of plastic bottles and explaining the science behind this experiment came across clearly and we hoped that everyone enjoyed our presentation, at the same time, learnt something new!