Teeth, digestion and food chains
Which drink is hardest on your teeth?
Does a fizzy drink stain and soften an eggshell more than water does?
Watch first
Follow energy as it passes from plants to animals along a food chain.
What you need
Tick each one as you find it — 0 of 5 ready.
Stay safe: Do not eat the eggs afterwards. Wash your hands after handling them.
Plan the fair test
- Change: The drink each egg sits in
- Measure: How stained and soft the shell is
- Keep the same: Same size egg, same amount of liquid, same time, same room
Objectives this evidences
- Identify the different types of teeth in humans and their simple functions
Do it, one step at a time
Step 1 of 4
- Step 1. Put one egg in each cup. Eggshell behaves a bit like tooth enamel.
- Step 2. Cover the first with cola, the second with orange juice, the third with water.
- Step 3. Leave them somewhere safe for two days. Look at them each morning and write what you see.
- Step 4. Lift each egg out, brush it gently with the toothbrush, and note which stains come off.
What should happen
The cola egg stains most and feels softest; the water egg barely changes. Sugary and acidic drinks attack enamel.
Think about: Brushing removed some staining. What does that tell you about brushing after a sugary drink?
Write up your result
A sentence or two is enough to save it.
The lessons behind this practical
Each one opens with the same short film, and the film has a written transcript underneath if reading is easier than watching.
Now the quiz for this topic
Questions come from the lessons behind this practical, so nothing is asked that has not been taught.
Quiz
Teeth, digestion and food chains quiz
6 questions from the lessons in this stage. No timer, and you can try again as many times as you like.