When The Stomach Churns Lab: Part 2

Today in class, we finished the lab we did yesterday that models how the stomach digestive juices work. The egg whites in each test tube did change in appearence, but the results for the blue papers that change to pink when acid is in its presence were the same as day 1. We learned that the hydrochloric acid and pepsin together helps in the process of digestion. However, the digestion process is slow. The hydrochloric acid is used to help dissole the broken food particles. The reason the food particles are broken down is because the pepsin makes the protiens into smaller pieces. Without pepsin, hydrochloric acid won't work properlly and vise versa.

As the Stomach Churns Lab Report: Part I

Today in class, we filled four different, labeled test tubes with egg whites to see how different amounts of substances, in this case, enzyme pepsin (meat tenderizer), hydrochloric acid, and water, react together. The first tube contained 10mL of meat tenderizer with nothing occurring immediately. Test tube "B" had 5mL of pepsin and 5mL of water. The liquid turned foggy making the egg whites difficult to see. Hydrochloric acid was added to the egg whites in test tube "C". There was no immediate reaction. The fourth tube contained 5mL of pepsin and 5mL of hydrochloric acid; the egg whites started breaking down and the solution became bubbly. We were then assigned to test the solutions with blue litmus paper which turns pink when acid is in its presence. Test tubes A and B stayed the same, possibly because it didn't have hydrochloric acid in the solution. Test tubes C and D, however, turned pink. My guess is that hydrochloric acid causes the litmus paper to turn pink. I await for the results tomorrow.