Experiment: Simulating temperature regulation during sweating

Introduction:Sweating is one of the homeostatic mechanism that is essential to regulate the body temperature.

Aim:

To investigate how the human body regulates its temperature during sweating, by setting up a simulation.

Materials and Apparatus:

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20 cm3 measuring cylinder (x 1)

250 cm3 beaker (x 1)

Plastic jug (x 1)

Test tubes (x 2)

Thermometers (x 2)

Test tube rack (x 1)

Dropper (x 1)

Stopwatch (x 1)

Sticky labels (x 2)

Rubber bands (x 4)

Supply of hot water at 70°C

Tissue paper

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Procedure:

  1. You are given two identical test tubes. Label one tube as A and the other as B.

Wrap three layers of tissue paper around each test tube. Hold the tissue paper in place around each test tube with a rubber band at the top and bottom.

  1. Place the test tubes in the test tube rack. Use the dropper to add tap water to the tissue paper around test tube B until the paper is completely moist.

The tissue paper around test tube A should remain dry.

  1. Fill both test tubes with 15 cm3 of hot water.
  1. Measure the temperature of water in each test tube. Record the temperature in a suitable table in step 6.
  1. Start the stopwatch. Measure the temperature of the water in each test tube every 2 minutes, over a period of 12 minutes. Do not allow the moist tissue paper around test tube B to become dry.
  1. Record all your results appropriately in a table format.
  1. Plot your readings on the graph paper provided. The graphs for the two test tubes must be on the same axes.
  1. Using yourgraph, determine the rate of cooling for test tubes A and B.
  1. Explain how this experiment illustrates how the human body can stay cool in a hot climate.
  1. State and explain one source of error for the experiment.

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