Taste in Space
Your Mission: Explore taste sensations on the tongue and experiment to see which senses influence taste.
- Conducting an experiment to see where on the tongue
students can identify the five basic taste sensations. - Understand why the basic taste sensations evolved in
humans. - Learn how an astronaut experiences the changes in taste intensity before and during a mission.
- Understand how reduced gravity affects the human body.
- Analysing information to come up with a conclusion.
Part 1:
- 4 clean containers, at least
- 1 L in size, labelled 1 to 4
- Salt
- Sugar
- Lemon Juice
- Grapefruit Juice
- Drinkable water
- Plastic Cups
- Per Group of 2:
- 4 small disposable cups + water to rinse mouth
- 4 droppers
- 1 marker
- Student worksheets
- Small hand mirror
- magnifying glass
Part 2:
Per student:
• Safety glasses or goggles
• Disposable gloves (optional)
• Student worksheets and data table
Per group:
• 6 covered containers labelled 1 to 6
• 3 droppers or syringes
• 3 plastic spoons
• Water (to rinse out mouth)
• Blindfold
• Pair of disposable gloves (optional)
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