Hey there! It’s Esther! The other day, I was at a party and had the most amazing dessert: key lime pie with loads of whipped cream. But guess what? When I went to take my first bite, it slid right off my plate! Has that ever happened to you? My friend Zabella has a question about accidents like this. Let’s see what she wants to know.
Zabella asked, “Is the 5-second rule true?” That’s a great question! You might have heard someone say, “Hey, 5-second rule!” when food falls on the ground. It means if you pick up your food quickly, it’s still okay to eat. But is it really safe? Some people say you should throw it away because it touched the ground. So, what’s the truth?
Imagine dropping different foods in different places. Would they still be okay to eat if you picked them up quickly? Let’s think about it. If your ice cream falls on the sidewalk, picking it up in 5 seconds won’t change the fact that it’s covered in dirt and rocks. But if a pretzel falls on your clean kitchen floor, it might look okay. Could the 5-second rule work here?
Some scientists were curious too. They tested four foods on four surfaces to see what would stick to the food after it fell. They weren’t looking for dirt or fuzz; they checked for germs, which are tiny living things we can’t see with our eyes. Even when a floor looks clean, germs are still there.
The scientists found that all the dropped foods picked up germs from all the surfaces. And the longer the food sat, the more germs it collected. So, even 1 second is too slow in a race against germs. Germs get on food almost instantly when it touches the ground.
If your food falls on the ground, picking it up quickly doesn’t mean it’s free from germs. Even if a floor looks clean, germs are there, and some might be on your food now. Some scientists say it’s best to throw away food that falls, just in case it picked up germs that could make you sick. But we already live in a world full of germs. Lots of people still eat food that falls, and they’re usually fine.
Personally, if I drop food on the sidewalk or a bus floor, it’s going in the trash. Some places are just dirtier than others. Even on my kitchen floor, if a piece of pie with whipped cream falls, it’s going in the trash too. But an uncut apple or an unopened banana? I’d pick it up, rinse it off, and enjoy my snack.
While we’ve been talking about the ground, remember that there are other things that touch our food, like our hands. When we touch things, we pick up germs and pass them onto our food. By washing your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and water, you can get rid of harmful germs and avoid spreading them.
So instead of the 5-second rule, focus on the 20-second rule. Don’t forget to wash your hands! That’s all for this week’s question. Thanks, Zabella!
For the next episode, we have three questions to choose from: How do balloons float? Why can we see our breath in the cold? Or how are keys made? Vote for the one you’re most curious about. There are mysteries all around us. Stay curious, and see you next week!
Germ Experiment: Try a simple experiment at home to see how quickly germs can spread. Take a slice of bread and lightly dampen it with water. Then, press it onto different surfaces like a clean kitchen counter, the floor, or even your hands. Place each slice in a separate sealed plastic bag and label them. Observe the changes over a few days. What do you notice? Which slice shows the most change? Discuss why it’s important to keep our food and hands clean.
Story Time: Create a short story or comic strip about a piece of food that falls on the ground. What adventures does it have? Does it get picked up quickly, or does it stay on the ground? What happens to it in the end? Share your story with your family or friends and talk about what you learned about germs and the 5-second rule.
Observation Challenge: For one day, pay close attention to how often you touch your face, food, or other objects without washing your hands first. Keep a tally of each time you do. At the end of the day, discuss with a parent or teacher how germs might spread through these actions and why washing hands for 20 seconds is important. What can you do to remember to wash your hands more often?
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
—
Hey, it’s Esther! The other day, I was at a party with the most amazing dessert: key lime pie with loads of whipped cream. But when I went to take my first bite, it slid off my plate. Has that ever happened to you? Someone named Zabella has a question about accidents like this. Let’s give Zabella a call.
Hi, Esther! I have a question for you: Is the 5-second rule true? That’s a great question! In that moment when your food hits the ground, maybe you’ve heard someone say, “Hey, 5-second rule!” What they mean is that if you pick it up fast enough, it’s still okay to eat. Basically, the rule claims you have 5 seconds to rescue your food. But maybe you’ve heard the opposite: someone says to throw it away because it touched the ground.
So, what’s the big deal? It might depend on the situation. Imagine all the different foods you could drop and all the different places they could land. Would that food still be okay to eat if you picked it up before 5 seconds passed? I’m curious what you think. Now would be a good time to pause the video and discuss.
Ready? If your ice cream falls on the sidewalk, picking it up in 5 seconds won’t change the fact that it’s coated with dirt and rocks—no 5-second rule here! But let’s say you’re at home and a pretzel bounces off the kitchen floor. It looks okay, with no signs of dirt or dust, and the floor seems clean. Could the 5-second rule be true in this case?
Some scientists were curious about this too. They thought about possible situations and chose four foods to test on four surfaces. They tested each combination of food and surface dozens of times and examined what stuck to the foods after they fell. They weren’t looking for bits of dirt or fuzz; instead, they checked for something even smaller: germs.
Even when a floor seems clean, there are still things we can’t see with just our eyes. Under a microscope, there are bits of grime where germs live. It might sound gross, but a big thing to remember is that we live in a germy world. Germs are everywhere—from the North Pole to the deepest ocean to your kitchen floor. From time to time, we all come in contact with germs that cause colds, upset stomachs, and other illnesses, and we do our best not to spread those germs.
The good news is that many germs don’t bother us; they just hang around all the time. So, we know there are germs on the ground. The scientists wanted to know if those germs would stick to different foods and how fast. Here’s what they discovered: all of the dropped foods picked up germs from all the surfaces. Yep, all of them! And the longer the food sat, the more germs they picked up. So, time does make a difference, but it turns out 5 seconds is way too slow in a race against germs. Even 1 second is too slow. Scientists found that germs get on food almost instantly the moment it touches the ground.
So, if your food falls on the ground, picking it up within 5 seconds doesn’t mean it’s free from germs. Even when a floor looks clean, germs and tiny bits of grime are there, and you can assume that some of them are now on your food. You might still wonder if it’s okay to eat when food falls. We know it will pick up germs, but we don’t know what kind of germs they might be.
For that reason, some scientists say it’s best to throw away food that falls, just in case it picked up germs that could make you sick. Others point out that we already live in a germy world. Even though a dropped pretzel picks up some germs, lots of people still scoop them up, brush them off, and eat them, and they’re totally fine. Personally, if I drop food on the sidewalk or the floor of a bus, it’s going in the trash. Some surfaces are just grimier and dirtier than others. Even on my kitchen floor, if a piece of pie with gooey whipped cream falls, sadly, that’s going in the trash too.
But an uncut apple or an unopened banana? I’d pick that up, rinse it off, and enjoy my snack. While we’ve been focused on the ground, it’s good to remember that there are much germier things that touch our food, even when we don’t drop it—like our hands. When we touch things around us, we pick up germs and then pass them onto our food and into our bodies. But by washing your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and water, you can get rid of harmful germs that might make you sick and avoid passing them on.
When it comes to food and germs, washing your hands before you eat is probably a bigger deal than how long something touched the ground. So instead of the 5-second rule, focus on the 20-second rule. Don’t forget to wash your hands! That’s all for this week’s question. Thanks, Zabella!
Now for the next episode, we reached into our question jar and picked out three questions sent to us that we’re thinking about answering next. When this video is done playing, you’ll get to vote on one. You can choose from: How do balloons float? Why can we see our breath in the cold? Or how are keys made? So submit your vote when the video is over. We want to hear from all of you watching. There are mysteries all around us. Stay curious, and see you next week!
—
Let me know if you need any further modifications!
