This week in Science, we experimented on the effects of acid in our food on tooth decay. Once we returned to the classroom from our lunch break, we found a special letter from the toothpaste company Colgate.
They explained that by consuming food and drink which contains sugar, such as fizzy drinks (eg Cola Cola), sweets and fruit juices, tooth decay will occur. When plaque (a sticky film of bacteria on teeth) mixes with sugars in food, acid is formed. This acid is bad for our teeth, and if teeth are exposed to a lot of acid, they can become damaged, hence tooth decay.
We were then asked to conduct an experiment which investigates the impact of acid on teeth, so they could ‘use’ our results to develop a new range of children’s toothpastes to protect teeth against acid and decay. Year 4 gladly accepted the challenge!
We used eggs as the ‘teeth’ in our experiment (because their shells have a similar chemical make-up to our tooth enamel) and a range of liquids such as vinegar, Coca-Cola and water to see which liquid would cause the most damage to the eggs.
After getting some class helpers, we started to organise our experiment and gather our equipment. To ensure our experiment was a fair test, we used eggs of a similar size and colour, the same amount of liquid in each beaker, and the same amount of time each egg spent in the liquid. We also covered one egg in toothpaste and submerged it in some Coca-Cola to see if the toothpaste would protect the egg.
We then wrote up our investigation, including our predictions of the impact that an acid will have on the enamel of the ‘teeth’, the methods that we used throughout our experiment and a labelled diagram of our experiment.
After the weekend, we are going to check the results and see what impact (if any) the acid has on the eggs. We will then be reporting our findings back to Colgate!
Year 4, what was your favourite part of our experiment?
