The Chemistry of Jello

By: Heather McKay

Now, to be honest, when it comes to food, it’s not really in my nature to look at what I’m eating

and just start contemplating about how or what it is made of. I mean, before I could even get that kind of

chance, my food tends to be long gone. But as I got to thinking, if I had to choose one food to really get

technical with, it would be my favorite dessert, Jello. I mean, I think I owe it to my all-time favorite

dessert, and not to mention I needed something to write about for this assignment.

So, starting off with some basics, how is Jello made? Jello is basic composition of water, gelation,

and a flavor of your choice. By flavor of choice, you could literally use pretty much anything from a can

of orange juice to a pack of cool aid. Though, the key ingredient to this jellylike treat is gelatin.

Gelatin is made from long strings of amino acids that are attached to hydrogen ions. Gelatin is

basically processed collagen, composed of structural proteins in connective tissues, skin, bones, and other

amino acids.

When making Jello you want to put a portion of your flavored water solvent into a pan to boil. Before

mixing in your powdered gelatin, you want to make sure that your solution is already heated or boiling.

Referencing the rules of solubility from chapter 7 in our book, gelation is known to be a relatively

soluble solid, which readily dissolves in water, our universal solvent. But when making Jello, if you

directly add gelatin into cold water, it doesn’t dissolve as well. So beforehand, you want to make sure
your solution is already boiling or pre-heated. It takes about three to five minutes for the powder to

completely dissolve in your hot water solution.

Now, getting into the more detailed aspects of this process. Like mentioned before, gelatin is

made up of a chain of long strings of amino acids, attached to hydrogen ions. During the boiling part of

this process, by adding energy (heat), the hydrogen bonds holding the collagen together break apart, and

the water molecules start to drift around in the hot water solution.

Picture from - (https://www.cnet.com/news/appliance-science-the-firm-chemistry-of-gelatin/)

During the mixing and heating step of the gelation solution, this is an example of a hydrolysis

reaction. Hydrolysis is the chemical breakdown of a compound due to a reaction with water. Once the

gelatin is dissolved the reaction is irreversible and the gelatin cannot return to its original state of being a

soluble solid.

Once the heating process is complete, you want to place your flavored solution in the refrigerator

to cool. Now, being at the most exciting part of this process, this is where the phase change takes place.

But in order to have a proper phase change, your solution needs to meet its required freezing point. The

temperature at which a liquid becomes a solid.

As our flavored solution begins to cool, the bonds that were previously broken during the boiling

step, they start to slow down. As the mixture continues to cool, the strands of protein have less and less

energy to wonder. Ultimately, bonding reoccurs at the points along the strands, forming pockets that trap

the surrounding liquid becoming re-established and re-linking the water to the gelatin chain. Also, looking
only at the cooling step of Jello, this is another example of a physical property. The change was a result of

the solution cooling rather than a chemical reaction occurring.

Picture from – (https://www.cnet.com/news/appliance-science-the-firm-chemistry-of-gelatin/)

Alas, after the bonds have been reconnect and the solution has cooled completely, the

result is, Jello. Now, drawing back chapter three, of the three states of matter. What would we

classify Jello as? The newly formed three-dimensional structure, is no longer a complete liquid

nor a gas, but does that mean we can accurately call it a solid? With the assumption that we only

followed the guidelines stated in chapter three of the book, we could conclude that Jello is a

solid. But to classify it on more accurate terms and according to one of several references, (others

down below) “Jello is a solid that is suspended in a liquid,” or in other words known as a semisolid

colloidal gel.

In the process of doing this assignment, I wanted to start off by making a list of

hypotheses before I had actually done any research. I made connections based off the material I
understood and I began to come up with many questions like, “What state could I classify this as,

would this be a result of a physical property, does Jello have a freezing point, and would Jello

have similar properties to ice?” Which in the completion of this assignment, I was able to

identify which theories were right or wrong?

Being at the end of the semester I wondered if I had really learned anything. But as I did

this assignment, I realized I really had learned a lot. I was able to come up with many different

ideas and questions solely based off what I understood. During lectures, the material was well

brought and explained. It was easy to pick up on and with practice, easy to apply. I never thought

that I’d be any good at chemistry but to my surprise, this class was very enjoyable.
 Reference page

MindTap Reader for ZumdahlDeCostes Introductory Chemistry A Foundation 8th

https://www.livescience.com/42088-what-is-jello-jell-o.html

https://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/stuff/8120jello.html

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-jell-o-how-does-i/

https://www.cnet.com/news/appliance-science-the-firm-chemistry-of-gelatin/

http://www1.lsbu.ac.uk/water/gelatin.html

http://www.physicscentral.com/experiment/askaphysicist/physics-

answer.cfm?uid=20080401071233