You will need:
- Breath mints
- Chilli sauce
- Thermometer
- Water
Figure out whether mints actually make your mouth colder or chilli sauce
makes your mouth hotter with this experiment.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Take the help of an adult so that you may not hurt yourself.
- First ask the adult to place a few breath mints in his mouth. Wait for a few minutes.
- Ask him whether his mouth feels cold.
- Take a thermometer and check the temperature of his mouth holding the tip of the thermometer right next to the breath mint in his mouth. Record the temperature.
- Next, ask him to rinse his mouth and wait for 5-10 minutes. Now, ask him to have a spoonful of chilli sauce. Preferably, keep the chilli sauce in his mouth for as long as possible.
- Is his mouth feeling hot? Record the temperature once again of his mouth, this time keeping the tip of the thermometer in the chilli sauce in his mouth.
- Record the temperature.
RESULT
There might be a slight increase in temperature when the person had mint and a slight decrease in temperature when the person has chilli sauce. TRP-V1 and TRP-M8 are sets of nerve cells, which detect the increase and decrease in temperature in the human body, respectively. These cells send signals to the brain. Due to the menthol in mint and capsaicin in the chilli, the cells are tricked into believing that the temperature is dropping or rising respectively when, in fact, it isn’t.
