341 Visualization of phase transition phenomena in a model carbohydrate food system.

J. S. JAVENKOSKI (1,2), J. C. Alameda (2), S. J. Schmidt (1), S. D. Johnson (3), and C. B. Bushell (4). (1) Dept. of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801; (2) National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820; (3) Dept. of Human Resource Education, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820; (4) School of Art and Design, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820.

The molecular mobility of water and solutes affects many diffusion-limited properties in food systems. The relationship between molecular mobility and the stability of foods can be defined in terms of the solute’s glass transition temperature, Tg. The Tg serves as a useful index of processibility, quality, stability, and safety in many food systems. Consequently, phase transition phenomena are critical concepts for Food Science students to understand yet some struggle to comprehend the topic. In response to this comprehension issue, we assessed perception, interpretation, and cognition of phase transition visualizations among Food Science students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. From a model binary food system containing water and sucrose, we processed (^1)H, (^2)H, and (^13)C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data and Tg differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) data to model and animate phase transitions using a suite of visualization software tools. Our results suggest that molecular visualization is an effective means of improving comprehension of phase transition phenomena in a simple carbohydrate food system.