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Yummy Like Glass

Johnny Pneumatic

Master Poster
J
Joined
Oct 15, 2003
Messages
2,088
Ok, this is kind of a weird question but is transparent fruit possible? I know of none but this doesn't mean it's impossible. Jellyfish are quite clear and are alive. Could a fruit be as clear as glass without having a size restriction on them; like wouldn't have to be as small as a blueberry? Thanks.
 
It probably wouldn't taste very good. Most of the aromatic compounds that cause fruit to have flavor have chiral moities which reflect light and give it color. Take away these compounds and your likely to render the properties that make whichever-fruit-you're-attempting-to-make-transparent and give it its unique flavor tasteless.

-TT
 
Had to Google " chiral moieties", and I STILL don't get what it is.

Eh?



P.S. Don't let Kumar know.
 
Have you seen those fruit flavored waters now for sale? The liquid is clear as ... well, water, yet the drink has the distinct taste as advertised, i.e. strawberry, etc.?
 
SezMe said:
Have you seen those fruit flavored waters now for sale? The liquid is clear as ... well, water, yet the drink has the distinct taste as advertised, i.e. strawberry, etc.?
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Actually it wouldn't just be those waters. How about colas(they would be clear as water if it weren't for the dyes put in), white cranberry juice and many other things. Good thinking SezMe.
A clear GE fruit would be quite novel wouldn't it?
 
Goshawk said:
Had to Google " chiral moieties", and I STILL don't get what it is.

Eh?
Click to expand...

Well, I could be wrong. But, I believe that most aromatic compounds that are locked into a particular configuration (by a particular element in their ring) exhibit a specific chirality that, among other things, affects how we perceive their flavor and what colors of the spectrum are absorbed or reflected.

Of course, sugar dissolved in water is still perceived as sweet by our taste buds and, of course, does not absorb or reflect light in our visible wavelength (i.e., it's "clear" to us).

I'd imagine that these same properties, however, that give the fruits their color and unique flavor would be lost if you were to somehow make them transparent. In other words, in order to make a transparent apple you'd have to necessarily lose the configuration of the individual constituents that make an apple taste like an apple.

Goshawk said:
P.S. Don't let Kumar know.
Click to expand...

Oh brother! Now you remind me! Is this what we call an "afterwarning"? ;)

-TT
 
Well, a translucent fruit should be theoretically possible. Grape juice and cranberry juice are both clear (red and purple coloring are almost always added to the kind you buy in stores).

Hmm, if any of you happen to be mad scientists, make some bite sized jellyfish that shoot fruit juice out of their nematocysts.
 
Sanamas said:
Well, a translucent fruit should be theoretically possible.
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By translucent do you mean in the technical sense(like frosted glass. Light can pass but no detail can be see through it)
Or do you mean transparent which means like clear window glass, clear plastic bottles etc.(light and detail can be seen though them) And the "o" word means no light and hence detail also can't be seen through them. Yes, I'm this pedant.
 
I guess it would be possible, but there would be no evolutionary advantage to the fruit. The purpose of fruit from the tree/plant's standpoint is to attract animals that will eat it and spread the seeds. It's a bit hard to attract animals with invisible fruit. ;)
 
Sanamas said:
Hmm, if any of you happen to be mad scientists, make some bite sized jellyfish that shoot fruit juice out of their nematocysts.
Click to expand...
I saw something like that on Spongebob once...
 
ThirdTwin said:
It probably wouldn't taste very good. Most of the aromatic compounds that cause fruit to have flavor have chiral moities which reflect light and give it color. Take away these compounds and your likely to render the properties that make whichever-fruit-you're-attempting-to-make-transparent and give it its unique flavor tasteless.

-TT
Click to expand...

Actually I recall that they are actually quite clear, and a pint of strawberries only had about a CC of the stuff, if that.

Of course, this was a Discovery channel episode some time ago.
 
Bruce said:
I guess it would be possible, but there would be no evolutionary advantage to the fruit. The purpose of fruit from the tree/plant's standpoint is to attract animals that will eat it and spread the seeds. It's a bit hard to attract animals with invisible fruit. ;)
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That assumes that the animals are attracted visually. For aromatic fruits, odor may well be a more powerful attractant. In fact, one could imagine being invisible to be an advantage.
 
SezMe said:
In fact, one could imagine being invisible to be an advantage.
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How would it be an advantage? Fruit "wants" to be eaten. The seeds are so "designed" as to pass through most GI tracts intact. What more perfect seed-spreading mechanism could nature come up with?

-TT
 
Or the plant could attract animals because the fruit is clear. What if the animals are attracted to clear shiny things? A glass ball is hard to miss seeing glimmering in sunlight.
 
SkepticJ said:
Or the plant could attract animals because the fruit is clear. What if the animals are attracted to clear shiny things? A glass ball is hard to miss seeing glimmering in sunlight.
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Like crows, or raccons? They both like shiny things. Squirrels too, I think.
 
Nex said:
Like crows, or raccons? They both like shiny things. Squirrels too, I think.
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Well yeah. I was more thinking of just animals on other worlds. Seeing as clear fruit hasn't evolved here yet.
 
SkepticJ said:
Well yeah. I was more thinking of just animals on other worlds. Seeing as clear fruit hasn't evolved here yet.
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Sorry, I was just thinking how interesting it would be to see how animals here would react to clear fruit.

I guess it really is possible to "think out loud" on a message board. :roll:
 
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