Density Pie
Learning about math and science through baking

When we were in grade 9 science, this recipe was in our text book. We made it to learn about the density of the ingredients.

The density, or more precisely, the volumetric mass density, of a substance is its mass per unit volume. Mathematically, density is defined as mass divided by volume.
More simply put, it is a measure of how much matter is in a certain volume.

According to the website, Math is Fun:

A gold bar is quite small but has a mass of 1 kilogram (about 2.2 pounds), so it contains more matter than a similar sized piece of wood.

So gold is more dense than wood.

The density of water is about 1 kg per liter (1 liter of water has a mass of 1 kg), so anything that floats has a lower density, and anything that sinks is more dense.

Here is another example: Oil and water – In an oil spill in the ocean, the oil rises to the top because it is less dense than water.

This can be explained to kids visually by making Density Pie (also known as Impossible Pie).

All the ingredients are dumped into a blender, poured into a pie plate and baked. The ingredients then settle out according to their density!

The most dense ingredients will settle on the bottom and the least dense ingredients will be on the top.

Density Pie (aka Impossible Pie)

4 eggs
½ C flour
1 C sugar
½ C soft margarine
2C milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 C coconut

Put all the ingredients in a blender and mix.

Pour into a pie plate.

Bake 35mins at 350. When the pie is no longer “jiggly” it is done

This recipe makes 2 pies.

Before we baked the pie, the kids guessed which ingredients would form which layers.
They thought that

Coconut would be the bottom layer.
The eggs/milk would make the middle layer
The Flour/sugar would make the top layer.

Once baked, we tried our density pie. The kids really liked it and it tasted a bit like a custard or cream pie. They also liked figuring out the layers!

TIP: Next time I would try using coloured coconut to see if it easier to decipher the layers.

Enjoy, and let us know what you found out!