Science Questions

Why is it that cream crackers left out take a matter of a few hours to go soggy and stale, yet when put into a large box containing the same amount of air as outside, they remain crisp for weeks? Euan in New Zealand

When you put crackers into a tin, the amount of air, and thus water in the air, is limited. Thus, even though they'll soak up some water, they don't have access to a whole room's worth of water, and so the amount of water available to make them soft and stale is minimal.

November 2005