- DISCOVERY MUSEUM SCIENCE AND SPACE CENTER - CELEBRATE ...

- DISCOVERY MUSEUM SCIENCE AND SPACE CENTER -

CELEBRATE COMETS
WITH CAKE POPS

- WITH DR. BEKAH SHEPARD, DISCOVERY MUSEUM EDUCATOR

Your Mission Today:

Step 1. Make cake pops that
represent comets.

Step 2. Investigate your
comet by making observations
and asking questions. You
may be surprised that you ask
the same questions as real
comet scientists!

Step 3. Celebrate comets by
enjoying your tasty treat!

SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND: Materials:
Comets have captivated the human
imagination for thousands of years. baked chocolate cake (recipe is for lollipop sticks
Throughout much of history a 1/2 of a 9x13) clear plastic wrap or candy bag
comet’s appearance in the sky was blue plastic wrap (or substitute)
interpreted as a portent of doom. chocolate frosting (buttercream or
canned)
We now know that comets are
astronomical bodies that date back to melting chocolate (chocolate chips ribbon
the early days of our solar system. or your favorite dipping chocolate) thick styrofoam or cake pop stand
They act as scientific time capsules
that will help us learn about our own crushed chocolate sandwich
origins in the universe. cookies

COMET HALE-BOPP, MAY 1, 1997 CAKE POP COMET EDIBLE COMETS
Notice the blue ion tail and the white dust tail! These comets don’t have tails, but they are still
Comets have two tails! Notice the white dust comets. They must be out past Jupiter where
tail and the blue ion tail.
the sun can’t warm them up.
Photo Credit: Gerald Rhemann

DISCOVERY MUSEUM SCIENCE & SPACE CENTER, 3615 AUBURN BOULEVARD, 916.808.3942. WWW.THEDISCOVERY.ORG

A Cake Pop Recipe

This recipe was modified from Divas Can Cook:
http://divascancook.com/2012/04/how-to-make-cake-pops-easy-best.html

1. Bake your favorite chocolate cake. Half of a 9x13 devils food box cake works
fine. Let cake cool.

2. Add cake to a large bowl. Crumble into fine crumbs.

3. Add frosting to the crumbs a little bit at a time, mixing with your hands, until
cake is moistened and will hold a ball shape, yet is still a bit crumbly.

4. Scoop out a small clump of cake mixture and roll into a ball with your hands.
Balls should be a bit smaller than golf balls. To achieve a uniform size, use an
ice cream scoop or melon baller.

5. Melt 2-4 oz of chocolate in the microwave
6. Dip the tip of the lollipop sticks into the chocolate, then insert about half way

into the cake balls.
7. Freeze the cake pops for approximately 20 minutes. Use this time to prepare

your decorating ingredients.

8. Melt the remaining chocolate in a steep enough dish to be able to fully
submerge each cake ball. A small cup will work well.

9. Dip cake balls into the chocolate carefully until completely covered. Let excess
chocolate drop off. Be careful not to twist the lollipop sticks too much while
dipping.

10.Quickly, before the chocolate sets, coat the cake pops with crushed sandwich
cookies. Pouring the cookie crumbs from one bowl to another to coat the cake
pop will work well.

11.Place the cake pops into a styrofoam block to help stabilize them while the
chocolate hardens. Cake pops can be placed in the refrigerator or freezer to
speed the setting time.

DISCOVERY MUSEUM SCIENCE & SPACE CENTER, 3615 AUBURN BOULEVARD, 916.808.3942. WWW.THEDISCOVERY.ORG

Cake Pop Recipe

- Finishing the Comet Cake Pops -

Add the comet’s coma and tail:

Wrap the cake pop gently with the clear plastic wrap or
plastic candy wrapper, bundling it to the side. Tie
gently with a ribbon. Wrap the pop a second time with
the blue seran wrap or candy bag, again tying gently
with a ribbon. Cut and fluff comet tail.

Additions and Modifications

- A Few Fun Suggestions -

Optional - Add a solar system!

Providing a solar system for your cake pops is a great
way to make this comet celebration even more festive.
Use a circular pan to bake a cake for the sun, and a
batch of cupcakes that can be decorated as the 8
planets. If you want a complete table display, you can
cover a table with black poster board or a black paper
table cloth. Place the sun cake, planet cupcakes, and
comet cake pops down (use styrofoam or another
weighted holder for the cake pops if you want them to
stand upright). Drawn the orbits of the planets and
comets onto the black backdrop.

Ingredient Alternatives!

• For a healthier treat (and gluten free) substitute a chocolate dipped frozen banana.

• Marshmallow lovers can experiment with chocolate-dipped marshmallows.

• Mix and match cake and frosting flavors - just remember that a dark color is more
scientifically accurate for a comet’s surface!

• Talented bakers can experiment with comet-shaped meringue.

DISCOVERY MUSEUM SCIENCE & SPACE CENTER, 3615 AUBURN BOULEVARD, 916.808.3942. WWW.THEDISCOVERY.ORG

Let’s Do Some Scientific Pondering!

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

Scientists learn about the universe by asking questions about what they see. See if
you can ask some cool questions as you investigate (and eat) your comet cake pop
creation!
Here are some questions suggestions if you get stuck:
1. What are the parts of a comet?
2. How many tails does your comet have?
3. What color is a comet’s tail?
4. If I unwrap my comet cake pop by taking off the tail, is it still a comet?
5. What is on the outside or surface of the comet?
6. What makes up the inside of a comet?
7. Where did the comet come from in the first place?

What are some other questions you can think of?

Looking for answers? Check the next page!

DISCOVERY MUSEUM SCIENCE & SPACE CENTER, 3615 AUBURN BOULEVARD, 916.808.3942. WWW.THEDISCOVERY.ORG

Answers to Comet Questions

WHAT SCIENTISTS THINK RIGHT NOW

Here are the answers to the questions posed above. Remember, these answers are
based on what scientists think right now. Science often changes as we learn more!
1. What are the parts of a comet?
Scientists talk about three main parts of a comet:

• Nucleus. The nucleus is the dusty, rocky ice ball at the center. Your cake
pop represents the nucleus.

• C oma. The coma is the temporary atmosphere that forms around the comet
as it travels near to the sun. As the comet warms up, some of the ices in the
nucleus sublimate (turn from ice into gas) and those gases form a thin
atmosphere around the comet. The plastic wrap that surrounds your cake
pop represents the coma.

• Tail. Look to the next question for more discussion of the tails of a comet.
The plastic wrap past the ribbon represents the tails of your comet.

2. How many tails does your comet have?
Comets often have two tails: a dust tail and an ion tail. The dust tail is made up of
comet dust that gets released as the comet warms up when it travels near to the
sun. The dust tail usually follows the comet around, streaming out behind the
comet’s nucleus. The ion tail forms as the molecules in the comet and coma are
excited (or ionized) and pushed back by the solar winds.
3. What color is a comet’s tail?
The dust tail of a comet usually appears white or yellow because the dust reflects
the light from the sun. The ion tail can appear to glow blue or green depending on
what ices were present in the comet. As the ices turn to gas and are acted on by
the solar winds, the ion tail appears colored. As an example, Comet Halley usually
appears bright blue.

DISCOVERY MUSEUM SCIENCE & SPACE CENTER, 3615 AUBURN BOULEVARD, 916.808.3942. WWW.THEDISCOVERY.ORG

Answers to Comet Questions

WHAT SCIENTISTS THINK RIGHT NOW

4. If I unwrap my comet cake pop by taking off the tail, is it still a comet?
Yes! Comets only have comas and tails when they get close enough to the sun for
the frozen ices in the comet to start sublimating (turning from ice into gas). For
most comets, that is when the comet is closer to the sun than Jupiter’s orbit. When
the comet is farther out in the solar system, it doesn’t have a tail, but it is still a
comet!
5. What is on the outside or surface of the comet?
The surface of a comet is made up of a fine dust, similar in grain size to talcum
powder. The surface appears dark black, and scientists often compare the
substance to tar. As the comet takes many trips around the sun, all of the volatiles
(things that easily turn to gas) are driven off the surface. Only the “tough stuff”
gets left behind.
6. What makes up the inside of a comet?
A comet is made of a mixture of ice, dust, and rocks. Lots of the ice is water ice,
although other ices such as frozen CO2 are present. Scientists believe that comets
are porous, meaning that they have lots of tiny holes in between the bits of ice and
dust. What actually makes up the inside of a comet is still being studied - so we
really don’t know!
Comets also include some of the basic building blocks of life, such as amino acids.
Amino acids combine to make proteins, which are some of the most important
molecules not only in your body, but in the bodies of every living thing on Earth.
Some scientists think that comets might have delivered these organic molecules to
early Earth, along with some water, helping along the origin of life on our planet.

DISCOVERY MUSEUM SCIENCE & SPACE CENTER, 3615 AUBURN BOULEVARD, 916.808.3942. WWW.THEDISCOVERY.ORG

Answers to Comet Questions

WHAT SCIENTISTS THINK RIGHT NOW

7. Where do comets come from in the first place?

This is a tough question! Scientists believe that most comets formed all the way
out at the edges of our solar system, either in the Kuiper Belt beyond the orbit of
Neptune, or in the Oort Cloud, which is even farther out from the sun. Not only did
comets form far away, but scientists believe that most comets formed very early in
the history of our solar system. The dust in comets might be dust that dates back
to the beginning of our solar system, more than 4.6 billion years ago. That is one of
the reasons that studying comets is so exciting! Learning about them may tell us
about the early history of our own solar system.

Need More Answers? Check out NASA’s comet page:

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Comets

DISCOVERY MUSEUM SCIENCE & SPACE CENTER, 3615 AUBURN BOULEVARD, 916.808.3942. WWW.THEDISCOVERY.ORG