Food Digestion Science Project Idea

Science project idea on how food is digested.

Food Digestion- Science Project Idea

Why must foods be digested?Consider the condition in the corn seedling.Where is the food stored?Where is growth going on, and where is energy being exerted?The food then must be able to travel from the seed to the growing point.But the young stem and root, just as in the older root and in the leaves, are made up of little box-like structures (cells) so that the food in reaching the point where it is needed must pass through hundreds of the thin walls of these cells.The question now is, is the stored-up food in condition to pass through these membranous walls?The following experiment will enable you to answer this question.

Science Experiment on Membrane Permeability and Food

Break off the bottom of a test tube so that it forms a tube open at both ends.Over one end of it tie a piece of parchment paper or a piece of the dried bladder of a pig or other animal.Place the tube with the parchment end down in a vessel of water in which has been stirred some starch.After about an hour test the water which has come into the tube through the parchment for the presence of starch.This test is made by adding to the water an iodine solution which turns it blue if starch is present.What is the result?What is your conclusion?

The parchment or membrane represents the cell walls through which the food must pass.Evidently the starch must be changed into something else or it can be of no value to the plant.Since we know that it disappears from the seed and that energy is exerted at the growing point, then we know that it is changed into something which will pass through the walls.

The protein and the fat stored in the seed are also unable to pass through membranes and they too must be changed.The process by which all of these foods are changed is called digestion.Our own foods must be changed in the same way; starch, protein, and fats are unable to get into our blood until they are changed into something which is able to pass through membranes.

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