THINK MINT

THE QUESTION
" Why Does Mint Make Our Mouth Feel Cold?"
After research, we found out that the active component in the Mint that causes the freshness sensation is Menthol. So we changed the question into:
" How Does MENTHOL Cause a COLD Sensation in Our Mouth?"
HYPOTHESES
To Find The Answer, TWO hypotheses were formulated:
-
Hypothesis 1: If the temperature of the mouth drops after tasting Menthol, then Menthol reacts chemically with the saliva to absorb heat.
-
Hypothesis 2: If the temperature of the mouth doesn’t drop, then Menthol affects sensory receptors in the mouth to feel cold by the brain through sending a nervous message.
To find out which of these hypotheses is right we performed:
The Big Experiment
A- Materials used in the Experiment
- We used 3 types of candies: M1, M4 and C2
Used Candies
|
Symbol
|
M1 candy (with menthol)
|
BL
|
M4 (with Menthol)
|
M
|
The control candy:
C2(without Menthol)
|
F
|
- 4 digital thermometers, 1 mercury graduated thermometer
- Water and cups

- Cotton balls

- Bottle of alcohol for disinfection 95%
B- Procedure of the Experiment
First: Measure the mouth temperature before eating anything
Second: Put the candy in the mouth, suck it well for 1 minute, and then measure the mouth temperature while the candy is still on the tongue. (The thermometer is placed on the tongue near the candy)
Third: Wait for the student to finish the candy, and measure the mouth temperature after by placing the thermometer on the tongue
Fourth:The student drinks a small amount of water to feel fresher, and then measure his/her mouth temperature after that.
C- The Results
Note : The Experiments were done by the students of grade 10 B to students.
First Part of the Experiment: This part of the experiment is done on 25 student of Grade 10 B.
The results are summarized in the following table:
Student code
|
Candy
|
Before (B) °C
|
During
(D)°C
|
T (BD)°C
|
After
(A) °C
|
T (DA)°C
|
T
(BA)°C
|
After drinking water °C
|
T (AA)°C
|
M1
|
(Bl)
|
35.8
|
36.5
|
+ 0.7
|
36.6
|
+ 0.1
|
+ 0.8
|
34.9
|
- 1.7
|
M2
|
(Bl)
|
35.3
|
36.0
|
+ 0.7
|
36.3
|
+ 0.3
|
+ 1.0
|
35.3
|
- 1.0
|
M3
|
(Bl)
|
34.2
|
36.1
|
+ 1.9
|
36.4
|
+ 0.3
|
+ 2.2
|
36.0
|
- 0.4
|
M4
|
(Bl)
|
35.6
|
36.8
|
+ 1.2
|
37.1
|
+ 0.3
|
+ 1.5
|
36.5
|
- 0.6
|
F5
|
(Bl)
|
34.9
|
35.2
|
+ 0.3
|
36.3
|
+ 1.1
|
+ 1.4
|
34.6
|
- 1.7
|
F6
|
(Bl)
|
36.6
|
36.3
|
-0.3
|
37.2
|
+ 0.9
|
+ 0.6
|
36.3
|
- 0.9
|
F7
|
(Bl)
|
33.6
|
36.0
|
+ 2.4
|
36.5
|
+ 0.5
|
+ 2.9
|
35.5
|
- 1.0
|
M8
|
(Bl)
|
34.6
|
34.4
|
- 0.2
|
36.0
|
+ 1.6
|
+ 1.4
|
35.1
|
- 0.9
|
M9
|
(Bl)
|
34.8
|
35.3
|
+ 0.5
|
35.4
|
+ 0.1
|
+ 0.6
|
35.2
|
- 0.2
|
F10
|
(Bl)
|
34.9
|
35.4
|
+ 0.5
|
36.0
|
+ 0.6
|
+ 1.1
|
33.9
|
- 2.1
|
Averagege
|
(Bl)
|
35.03
|
35.8
|
+0.77
|
36.38
|
+0.58
|
+ 1.35
|
35.33
|
-1.05
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
M11
|
(M)
|
36.1
|
36.5
|
+ 0.4
|
36.3
|
- 0.2
|
+ 0.2
|
35.8
|
- 0.5
|
M12
|
(M)
|
35.8
|
36.6
|
+ 0.8
|
37.2
|
+ 0.6
|
+ 1.4
|
36.5
|
- 0.7
|
M13
|
(M)
|
35.5
|
36.9
|
+ 1.4
|
37.2
|
+ 0.3
|
+ 1.7
|
36.8
|
- 0.4
|
F14
|
(M)
|
34.9
|
36.6
|
+ 1.7
|
37.4
|
+ 0.7
|
+ 2.4
|
36.2
|
- 1.2
|
M15
|
(M)
|
34.4
|
34.3
|
- 0.1
|
35.5
|
+ 1.2
|
+ 1.1
|
34.8
|
- 0.7
|
M16
|
(M)
|
35.0
|
36.3
|
+ 1.3
|
36.8
|
+ 0.5
|
+ 1.8
|
36.5
|
- 0.3
|
M17
|
(M)
|
34.8
|
35.9
|
+ 1.1
|
36.4
|
+ 0.5
|
+ 1.6
|
36.3
|
- 0.1
|
M18
|
(M)
|
36.7
|
37.0
|
+ 0.3
|
37.1
|
+ 0.1
|
+ 0.4
|
36.0
|
- 1.1
|
Average
|
|
35.4
|
36.2625
|
0.8625
|
36.7375
|
+ 0.475
|
+1.337
|
36.1125
|
-0.625
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
M19
|
(F)
|
35.2
|
36.0
|
+ 0.8
|
35.7
|
- 0.3
|
+ 0.5
|
35.3
|
- 0.4
|
M20
|
(F)
|
36.8
|
37.0
|
+ 0.2
|
37.0
|
0
|
+ 0.2
|
37.3
|
+ 0.3
|
M21
|
(F)
|
36.5
|
37.1
|
+ 0.6
|
36.7
|
- 0.4
|
+ 0.2
|
35.9
|
- 0.8
|
M22
|
(F)
|
35.8
|
36.7
|
+ 0.9
|
36.3
|
- 0.4
|
+ 0.5
|
35.1
|
- 1.2
|
M23
|
(F)
|
34.4
|
34.4
|
0
|
35.4
|
+ 1.0
|
+ 1.0
|
34.3
|
- 1.1
|
M24
|
(F)
|
34.4
|
35.5
|
+ 1.1
|
35.8
|
+ 0.3
|
+ 1.4
|
34.9
|
- 0.9
|
M25
|
(F)
|
36.6
|
37.3
|
+ 0.7
|
37.6
|
+ 0.3
|
+ 1.0
|
36.7
|
- 0.9
|
Averagege
|
(F)
|
35.671
|
36.285
|
0.614+
|
36.357
|
+0.0714
|
0.685+
|
35.642
|
-0.714
|
Second Part of the Experiment:
- The same experiment (as the first part) was done on four younger students (10-11 years) who have no idea about the project.
- The only difference is that Halls Blue (BL) has not been used.
Student code
|
Age
|
Candy
|
Before (B) °C
|
During
(D)°C
|
T (BD)°C
|
After
(A) °C
|
T (DA)°C
|
T
(BA)°C
|
After drinking water °C
|
T (AA)°C
|
M
|
11
|
M
|
34.1
|
36.0
|
+ 1.9
|
36.9
|
+ 0.9
|
+ 2.8
|
35.2
|
- 1.7
|
F1
|
10
|
M
|
35.4
|
35.4
|
0
|
36.6
|
+ 1.2
|
+ 1.2
|
36.6
|
0
|
Average
|
|
M
|
34.75
|
35.70
|
0.95+
|
36.75
|
+1.05
|
2.00+
|
35.90
|
0.85-
|
F2
|
11
|
F
|
36.3
|
36.5
|
0.2 +
|
37.0
|
+ 0.5
|
+ 0.7
|
36.3
|
- 0.7
|
F3
|
10
|
F
|
35.5
|
36.5
|
+ 1
|
37.3
|
+ 0.8
|
+ 1.8
|
36.3
|
- 1.0
|
Average
|
|
F
|
35.9
|
36.5
|
1+
|
37.15
|
0.65+
|
1.25+
|
36.3
|
- 0.85
|
Tooo Many Numbers Ha??????
So what are you waiting for go to
The COOL findings to see them as GRAPHS!!!!
Simple , Colored and above all FRESH!!!!
Comments (3)
Miss Yusser said
at 2:15 pm on May 1, 2011
:) nevermind.....
Thanks for your efforts , we can see that you worked hard yesterday and today on this wiki!!! :)
aloshi_132@hotmail.com said
at 11:09 pm on May 1, 2011
thnx for giving me another chance.... but I have a question:Why can't we delete the unused pic or files as the one u told me in the msg?{to save space}
Miss Yusser said
at 11:34 pm on May 1, 2011
ok... I will try to check this out. Good luck in the remaining work!!
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