3. Biology experiment: SkeletonBiology experiment: Skeleton
Are astronauts more likely to develop osteoporosis than others? Why?
Materials: -Two chicken legs, one normal and the
other one macerated overnight in diluted hydrochloric
acid
-Two equal pieces of cardboard, one normal
and another one perforated with tiny holes.
The bones adapt to the amount of weight they have to carry. In space,
because of the lack of gravity, the weight they have to carry is
negligible. The bone mass decreases. This is called osteoporosis.
Astronauts lose an average of more than 1% bone mass per month
spent in space.
When astronauts arrive back on earth it takes a while for the bones to
recuperate. During that time the bones are more likely to break.
Sometimes the loss of bone mass is irreversible.
4. Operation of the experimentOperation of the experiment
1. Two chicken legs, one “normal” and one
macerated overnight in diluted hydrochloric acid.
Try to break both.
2. Two equal pieces of cardboard, one “normal”
and one perforated with tiny holes.Try to rip both.
5. Results and conclusionsResults and conclusions
BelgiumBelgium
1. The normal bone didn’t crack but the other bone cracked.
2. The normal piece of cardboard ripped
difficult and the one with holes ripped easy.
Astronauts have more chance to
develop osteoporosis because they
have to live in less gravity. Living in
less gravity makes your bones weaker.
Thats why they have to do exercices in
space, to make their bones less weak.
6. Results and conclusionsResults and conclusions
ItalyItaly
1. We saw that normal chicken leg breaks harder, instead of the
second one wich was macerated overnight in the acid.
2. We noticed that the cardboard which was perforated with tiny
holes broke easier than the normal one.
Results:
We discovered that astronauts are more likely to develop
osteoporosis than others, because when they are in space,
the weight they have to carry is negligible. So their bone
mass decreases, this fenomen is called osteoporosis.
7. Italy comparisonItaly comparison
We noticed that we found pretty the
same results, both groups found the
normal chicken leg harder to break,
and the cardboard perforated with
holes easier to rip. So we arrived at
the same conclusions, bone of
astronouts are weaker than normal
bones, beacuse of the lack of gravity
of the space.
