NASA Engineer Mark Rober Demystifies Five Second Floor Food Rule

Summary: NASA engineer Mark Rober demystifies the five second floor food rule in the Science Channel's debut segment of "The Quick and the Curious."

five second floor food rule; crop from Greg Williams' WikiWorld; derivative work by Pongo, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

The five second floor food rule is not just folklore, explains NASA engineer Mark Rober Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016, in the debut segment of the Science Channel’s new, quirky fact series, “The Quick and the Curious.”

Bacteria are not necessarily fast movers.

“When it’s not being helped along by your 100-mile-per-hour sneeze, the average bacteria moves along at a blistering speed of 0.00045 miles an hour. That is 67 times slower than the average garden snail,” divulges Rober.

Tiny amounts of bacteria, however, do adhere to food that occupies floor space within the five second rule.

“The 'five second rule' is really the '30 second moisture and surface rule,'” notes Rober.

The deciding factors in the retrievability of floor food are the food’s moisture content and the type of surface on which the food has fallen.

But moist food on the floor or ground for more than 30 seconds attracts 10 times as much bacteria as dry food collects after three seconds. Bacteria such as Escherichia coli (E. coli), listeria and salmonella thrive in wet environments. The bacterial trio absorbs water and extracts nutrients that are necessary for growing and multiplying.

Dropping food on linoleum is more hazardous than on rugs. Linoleum’s flat surface collects more bacteria than rugs’ uneven surface. Floor food touches far less surface area on rugs’ challenging woven tufts than on linoleum’s easy flatness.

Another NASA engineer, Mike Meacham, joins Rober’s quest to demystify the five second floor food rule.

“We’ve all heard of the five second rule. Get to the cookie within five seconds and it’s good to eat. But is there any real science behind that? Let’s go find out,” says Meacham.

Meacham goes to a park with a tray of chocolate chip cookies. “Free cookies in the name of science! Cookies anyone?” Meacham invitingly hails potential subjects.

A hitch to accepting a free cookie is that the freebie first has to hit the pavement. One parkgoer responds, “You keep it.”

Another says, “No.”

A third picks up and bites into the cookie while his female companion exclaims, “Don’t eat that! It fell on the ground!”

The quirky facts demystifying the five second floor food rule are confirmed already by a study conducted in 2014 by final year biology students under the lead of Anthony Hilton, microbiology professor at England’s Aston University in Gosta Green, Birmingham’s city center. The study’s findings show that time and type of surface are significant factors in acceptable edibility of floor food. A survey by the Aston team reveals that 87 percent would eat floor food; 55 percent of the would-eaters are women; 81 percent of the female would-eaters observe the five second rule.

Professor Hilton sums the study’s findings: “Our study showed that a surprisingly large majority of people are happy to consume dropped food, with women the most likely to do so. But they are also more likely to follow the 5 second rule, which our research has shown to be much more than an old wives’ tale.”

For the most part, the five second floor food rule is valid. Quick retrieval of a dry ground drop may very well equate to safe eating.

“Next time you see a rocket scientist toss his cookies, take a bite. Time is on your side,” the segment of “The Quick and the Curious” concludes reassuringly.

NASA engineer Mark Rober reveals bacteria as normally slow movers: Science Channel @ScienceChannel, via Twitter Jan. 31, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

five second floor food rule; crop from Greg Williams' WikiWorld; derivative work by Pongo, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Five_second.png

NASA engineer Mark Rober reveals bacteria as normally slow movers: Science Channel @ScienceChannel, via Twitter Jan. 31, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/ScienceChannel/status/693809763587616768

For further information:

"Researchers prove the five second rule is real." Aston University > News & events > News releases > 2014. March 10, 2014.
Available @ http://www.aston.ac.uk/news/releases/2014/march/five-second-food-rule-does-exist/

Science Channel. "Is the '5 Second' Rule Legit?" YouTube. Feb. 2, 2016.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4MYg9gHXPs

Science Channel‏ @ScienceChannel. "Did you miss #QuickAndCurious last night? Find out if the 5 second rule is legit or not!" Twitter. Jan. 31, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/ScienceChannel/status/693809763587616768