Fast Relief: Warm or Cold?

By Michelle Santoy 4th grade

Many kids eat a combination of foods that give them stomach aches and they want something that will make them feel better fast.

They can take an Alka-Seltzer. But what is the fastest way to make it work?

Problem

How does the temperature of the water affect how the Alka-Seltzer works?

Question

Warm water will make the Alka-Seltzer produce gas faster.

Hypothesis

1. Alka-Seltzer 2. Water 3. Microwave 4. Timer 5. Paper 6. Pencil 7. Thermometer 8. Camera 9. Clear glasses

Materials

1. Get Alka-Seltzer2. Get Water3. Heat one glass of water for a little bit4. Fill glass with room temperature water5. Put a thermometer in each glass6. Add ice or heated water to make desired water

temperature ( over 103 for hot or under 50 for cold)7. Write down temperature8. Put an Alka-Seltzer in glass and start timer9. Take a picture of the Alka-Seltzer producing gas10. Stop timer when the Alka-Seltzer stopped fizzing11. Write down the time12. Repeat steps 3 - 10 for different water temperatures

Procedure

Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Category 40

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

cold 48-50warm 103-107

Data

Data—Observation

Not fully dissolved Fully dissolved

The warm water made the Alka-Seltzer dissolve in an average of 22 seconds, while in the cold water it took an average of 1 minute and 52 seconds for the tablet to dissolve.

The tablet more fully dissolved in the glass of warm water than in the glass of cold water.

Results

My hypothesis that warm water will make the Alka-Seltzer produce gas faster was correct.

If a person has a stomach ache, she should choose warm water to drink an Alka-Seltzer because it will make the tablet dissolve faster and more fully.

Conclusion