I have seen the
incredible power of
cheese first hand. Way back in high school, our
chemistry teacher was conducting the standard
kitchen food science demonstrations. Burning
sugar cube, flour
fireball and the like. The
caloric value of food was being calculated by an
equation of temperature versus burn time or some such thing. In typical
teenage fashion, I was much more interested in the
girls sitting in the next
row. My
rapt attention was soon
reacquired by Mr. Williams, our resident
mad scientist.
The current burning
foodstuff was apparently not reacting in the
intended fashion. The subject of the experiment was a
whey cheese, chock full of
cystine, which is a
highly sulfuric amino acid. Seems that this particular brand of whey cheese was packaged in
vegetable oil. The resulting higher
combustion point caused a particularly
foul yellow mist to rise from the burning
chunk of cheese.
Sulfur smoke as it turns out.
We had classes in another room for a
week.
Behold, the Power of Cheese.