Milk Puzzler
Name
Solve this puzzle if you can! Whole milk weighs 8.6 pounds per gallon.
Water weighs 8.3 pounds per gallon. Why is milk heavier that water?
Try 1:
Try 2:
Try 3:
Try 4:
© Florida Agriculture in the Classroom, Inc.
Teacher Instructions - Milk Puzzler
Hand out the page: Milk Puzzler
Puzzler:
Solve this puzzle if you can! Whole milk weighs 8.6 pounds per gallon. Water
weighs 8.3 pounds per gallon. Why is milk heavier that water?
Hint One:
Hint: Whole milk is made up of water, vitamins, minerals, butterfat, protein
and a milk sugar called lactose.
Hint Two:
Hint: Whole milk consists of the following percentages of the ingredients
given yesterday:
Water
Lactose
Butterfat Protein
Vitamins & Minerals
-
87.1%
5.0%
3.9%
3.3%
.7%
Hint Three:
Hint: What characteristics do you know about each of the ingredients that
make up whole milk?
If by hint 3 they have not figured it out, give them a few more clues by asking
these questions: 1) Which of the ingredients weigh more than water? 2) Which of
the ingredients weigh less than water? Butterfat is lighter, but sugar and protein
solutions are heavier. 3) If you add a tablespoon of oil to a glass of water, what will
happen?
It turns out that for milk it depends on the cream content-the more cream, the
lighter it is. But for the regular whole milk or 2% milk that most of us drink, it is
about 3% heavier than water.
Then proceed to Activity Three.
© Florida Agriculture in the Classroom, Inc.