![[Biology]](../inline/biology.gif)
![[Taste Test]](inline/taste.gif)
![[Theory:]](../../inline/theory.gif)
- This test will allow you to discover things you likely never knew about
your tongue! On the surface of your tongue, there are hundreds of tiny
little bumps called taste buds (in fact, there are over 900!!). These
little bumps are what let your brain know what flavour you are tasting. You
know that you have tons of taste buds (approx. 900) but do you think that
they can taste the same things? By the end of the test, you will have
mapped out the taste zones (sweet, sour, bitter, salty) on your
tongue.
![[Materials:]](../../inline/material.gif)
- Small amounts of
- baking soda
- lemon juice
- salt
- sugar
and
- 4 small straws
- 4 plastic cups
- water
![[Procedure:]](../../inline/procedure.gif)
- Put some of each flavour in a cup. For the sugar, salt, and
baking soda you will need to add some water to make a liquid.
- Stick
your tongue out.
- Have a friend drop one flavour on your
tongue, and write down how it tastes.
- Now have the same person drop
the same taste on a different part of your tongue. Can you still taste it?
- Draw a map of your tongue and mark where on your tongue you can
taste this flavour.
- Repeat steps 2 and 3 for all the different
flavours, until you have mapped your entire tongue.
![[Conclusions:]](../../inline/concl.gif)
- There are 4 different regions on your tongue, and each can only taste a
certain flavour (salty, bitter, sweet, sour).
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Produced by Galactics.
Comments: galactics@spacesim.org.
Last updated on 14 August 1998.