science

Jungle juice

Jungle juice is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Jungle juice rather than just read about it. In short: Jungle juice is an improvised mix of liquor that is usually served for group consumption. The term has also been used for similar less-than-reputable alcoholic concoctions.

Key takeaways

Jungle juice belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Jungle juice to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Jungle juice from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Jungle juice is an improvised mix of liquor that is usually served for group consumption. The term has also been used for similar less-than-reputable alcoholic concoctions. It is also termed trash can punch due to often being served in improvised large containers such as household trash cans.

History "Jungle juice" as a term for bootlegged alcoholic drinks was used as early as 1909 in both the city of Fort Collins, Colorado and the town of Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. The item in the Weekly Courier in Fort Collins in February 1909 said the editor of a paper in nearby Eaton found Fort Collins "Jungle juice is too fierce for him." The term appeared in Fort Collins newspapers several times over the next two decades. The name came from an area known as "the Jungle" on the outskirts of the dry town that was home to bootlegging and other illicit activities. A 1925 column in the Fort Collins Independent referred to "jungle juice" as the "acid that made Fort Collins famous." Other uses of the term for bootlegged or homemade alcoholic drinks appeared in U.S. and Canadian newspapers in the 1930s and the first two years of the 1940s (before the U.S. entered World War II). Australian newspapers used the term before the war to refer to home-brewed auto fuel additives. (Some of the Fort Collins articles also referred to their "jungle juice" being used this way.) The term gained more widespread use during the war, first among Australian and American troops in New Guinea beginning in late 1942 and early 1943. Some newspaper articles described how it was made and what effect it had on those who drank it.

Recipe for famed jungle juice cocktail: Break open top of a coconut, add sugar and raisins, replace top, set in sun three weeks and hold on to your hat. The subject of liquor on this island is very low. The only thing they have is some kind of stuff which is called 'jungle juice.' I have not had any but from the reports two smells of the cork and you pass out.

Some of the boys make their own brew, commonly known as Jungle juice. Its' [sic] a mixture of coconut juice, paw-paw juice and a handful of raisins (that is if they ever get a parcel from home with raisins in it) and various other tropical fruit juices, too numerous to name. Let it stand for three days until even the flies shun it, then it is declared okay. And is it potent? I tried it once but never again and I thought I could drink.

Sedative The term had also been applied to a specific treatment for war neurosis being practiced during the Second World War. Dr. William Sargant began to treat afflicted soldiers with large doses of a sedative called sodium amytal. The sedative would induce a deep sleep lasting up to three weeks. Patients would only be woken for an hour each day to be fed and to be bathed. The idea behind this sleep narcosis treatment was to break the cycle of exhaustion and anxiety caused by combat stress reaction. Additionally, insulin was given to patients to help restore lost weight due to inactivity. The insulin, however, could induce a coma by lowering the blood sugar. If the blood sugar level dropped too low, it could result in irreversible brain damage or even death. Soldiers began to refer to the sedative treatment as being given "Jungle Juice".

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jungle juice

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jungle juice claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Jungle juice before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Jungle juice ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Jungle juice

In research: Jungle juice appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Jungle juice in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Jungle juice is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Drinking culture, Mixed drinks, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jungle juice outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Jungle juice in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Jungle juice means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Jungle juice out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jungle juice in simple terms?

Jungle juice is an improvised mix of liquor that is usually served for group consumption. The term has also been used for similar less-than-reputable alcoholic concoctions.

Why does Jungle juice matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Jungle juice?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Jungle juice.