Experiment: Sports Drinks: Possible Cause of Tooth Erosion?
Written by Catherine Gloss; St. Joseph's Academy |
Tags: Chemistry Health and Medicine Sports
According to the American Dental Association, soda can erode tooth enamel. However, what most people do not know is that sports drink might erode teeth as well. Soda’s acidity is the reason soda can soften teeth enamel. If sports drinks are acidic enough, they can erode tooth enamel too. [See: Can Sports Drinks Lead to the Erosion of Tooth Enamel?]
Eggs soaking in Gatorade and Powerade. What do they have to do with teeth? Credit: Catherine Gloss.
In this experiment, the pH of six different sports drinks: Gatorade, Powerade, MVP, Propel, SoBe, and Vitamin Water, was tested and recorded using a pH testing kit. Then, the yolk of 18 eggs was blown out of the eggs without cracking the egg shells.
Egg shells and teeth are similar in the material makeup; egg shells contain calcium carbonate and teeth contain calcium phosphate. This similarity allowed egg shells to represent teeth.
Each sports drink was then placed in a glass with an egg for one hour for trial one, two hours for trial two, and three hours for trial three. The lower the pH of a liquid was, the softer the eggshell (representing a tooth) became.
The only two drinks that definitely softened the eggshell were Gatorade and MVP, both drinks with a pH value of 4.0.
The hardness of the egg shell was tested before being placed in the sports drinks using the Mohs Hardness Scale. The egg shell’s hardness was between 2.5 and 3.0; it was able to be scratched with a penny, but not with a fingernail. A penny has a known hardness of 3.0, whereas a fingernail has a known hardness of 2.5.
After each eggshell was in the sports drink, the hardness of the shell was tested again. The two egg shells that were in Gatorade and MVP were now able to be scratched with a fingernail.
The other drinks might have softened the eggshell, but the hardness of the eggshell was in the same range as the hardness of the eggshells that were originally placed in Powerade, water, Propel, SoBe, and Vitamin Water. Therefore, it cannot be determined if these drinks softened the eggshell. In a future experiment, researchers might be able to get a more specific hardness of the eggshells if more minerals with a known hardness are available to them.
Sports drinks are very popular among athletes and non-athletes. According to the American Dental Association, “The consumption of soft drinks, including carbonated beverages, fruit juice and sport drinks, in the United States has increased by 500% over the past 50 years.” Athletes drink sports drinks to increase their energy during a game. Many of my classmates also drink sports drinks either to replenish the liquid they have lost when exercising or for the taste.
According to the International Dental Health Foundation, acidic drinks can soften tooth enamel. Enamel is the layer on the very outside of the tooth. It protects what is inside the tooth and if it is softened, it can lead to tooth erosion. Sports drinks are considered to be weak acids. That is why in the experiment the sports drinks that were the most acidic were the drinks that softened the eggshell the most. Catherine Gloss
Music`s Positive Effect on Cancer
Written by Steven Whitehorn; Hazelwood East High School |
Tags: Health and Medicine Social Science
My grandmother had breast cancer and we would use music sometimes to calm her down when she would get upset. Did music really have this effect? Could it cause a person to act or feel a certain way toward it? Does it make that person have a strong feeling toward anything?
Can music help someone with cancer? Credit: iStockPhoto.com
According to Joke Bradt, Ph.D.,an associate professor of creative arts therapies at Drexel University, in Philadelphia, PA, listening to music, singing, even playing musical instrument can lessen anxiety in cancer patients and improve their overall quality of life. She believes that music can bring renewed hope to those who have lost it and energize one as well. According to an article on health.com, she also says, “Singing and playing music can also be empowering for patients who feel victimized by cancer.
Bradt also said she wasn`t sure which music intervention was the most successful, but she does believe that when you listen to the particular music you like and music that you participate in making it seems to have an better effect on your anxiety levels. She says that the music therapy works better if you listen to the music that you want to hear. She says that you can’t prescribe it like it is medicine for a headache..
To reach these conclusions, Bradt systematically reviewed 30 studies that included 1,891 adults and children with cancer. The results were published August, 2011, in the Cochrane Library. Thirteen trials used trained music therapists, while in the remaining 17 trials listened to pre-recorded music. All of the studies included a control group that received standard cancer treatment.
Overall, those who listened to the prerecorded music and those who listened to the live music had lower anxiety levels and an improved view on life as measured using questionnaires than the standard treatments. In some studies, music therapy also improved pain and mood, as well as blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate. However, depression levels did not improve.
Bradt isn`t the only one to recognize the positive influences of music. Miklos Auber, M.D., and Howard Emerson, a certified music practitioner, both with West Virginia University, have done studies with music and its effect on cancer patients. Hospitals have been using music -based therapies to ease the symptoms associated with the chronic, painful, and emotionally distressing diseases like cancer. For example, the harp has a calming effect on patients going through chemotherapy, making them less anxious about their disease. Both men say by playing harp music while going through chemo helps pain tolerance, and lessen nausea.
According to Health.com, Robert Zatorre, Ph.D., a cognitive neuroscientist at McGill University in Montreal, who studies the effect of music on the brain, says that musical qualities like tempo and volume will also likely impact a patient's mood and stress levels. This means that the lower or louder the music can also affect a patient’s mood. He says music has had influence on the brain starting all the way back to the lullabies to babies that are a gentle and soothing tempo, making the baby calm down and go to sleep.
Related stories:Love MayActually Heal All;The Mind-Music ConnectionZatorre says that this would be a good alternative to drugs and other treatments that doctors use today. He says that this has minimum side effects and the worst that could happen is that you don’t like it andturn it off.Steven Whitehorn