The Rice Experiment

Everett has been asking to do a lot of science experiments lately. We signed up for this weekly newsletter, which has given us some fun ideas,  we've been pulling out the various science books we've gotten over the years, and we've been looking around the internet.

The experiment we started today is a famous experiment by Masaru Emoto.  Emoto is an entrepreneur and doctor of alternative medicine who has done extensive research into the idea that words, thoughts, or even music directed at water before it is frozen will influence its crystallization.  He claims that positive energy will make the crystals beautiful, while negative energy (or no energy at all) will do the opposite.  He has published many books, including many volumes of a work entitled Messages From Water, that explain his viewpoints and his research.  This site has a nice explanation of his work and some very cool pictures of some of his crystals. 

This experiment is a take on the same theory, using rice instead of water. 

Take three identical containers and fill them with cooked rice.  Label one with "I love you," one with "I hate you," and leave the third unlabeled.  Now, talk to the rice!  Speak the words on the containers every day for a month (loving words to the "loved" container, and hateful words to the "hated" container) and completely ignore the unlabeled container.   Wait and watch for what happens, or doesn't happen, as the rice ferments and goes bad.

Today was Day One.  And while the kids mostly seemed to get a kick out of the whole thing, I discovered (or reaffirmed really) that I really don't like saying hateful things.   Even to rice.