How Do Antacids Work?

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You just ate a big meal and feel heartburn coming on. You take an antacid and feel better. Why? Heartburn is caused by stomach juice (an acid) burning the esophagus. In this activity, dye, fake stomach juice and antacid are used to show how antacid (anti-acid) soaks up the loose hydrogen atoms (acid) in the fake stomach juice. [Activity is publicly available through a web crawler capture on Archive.org.]

Quick Guide

Preparation Time:
10 to 30 minutes
Learning Time:
30 to 45 minutes
Estimated Materials Cost:
$5 - $10 per group of students
Age Range:
Ages 11 - 18
Resource Types:
Activity, Experiment/Lab Activity
Language:
English

Materials List (per group of students)

  • Bottle of antacid (the tablets should be broken into smaller pieces)
  • A Mortar and pestle
  • Dropper bottle with fake stomach juice = (0.01M HCl, or use vinegar)
  • Round wooden sticks in plastic container
  • Dropper bottle with dye (pH indicator diluted to 20% in water) Any indicator dye that can differentiate between pH 2 and 7 will work.
  • Plastic cups

Keywords

Subjects

  • Life Sciences
    • Human Body
      • Digestion
  • Physical Sciences
    • Chemistry
      • Chemical Reactions
      • Acids and Bases

Audience

To use this activity, learners need to:

  • see
  • see color
  • touch

Learning styles supported:

  • Uses STEM to solve real-world problems
  • Involves hands-on or lab activities

Other

Access Rights:

  • Free access

By:

Source Collection

  • Pfizer Foundation Biochemistry Discovery Lab

Rights:

  • All rights reserved, New York Hall of Science, 2001

Funding Sources:

  • Pfizer Foundation
  • National Science Foundation, 9814954
  • The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.