NEED HELP!!! Would a cheeseburger dissolve in muratic acid?

[OOOGDMONEY]

I am doing this for a science project. I was wondering if it would work and what would I need if I was to accomplish it. I saw a video of these men putting a cheeseburger in hydrochloric acid and I wanted to recreate that but I have no idea what would I need for this. The project is due in a few weeks and I need some help

[SciB]

Well, yes, a cheeseburger would break down in hydrochloric acid [aka muriatic acid]--but the main question should be why do you want to do that? Are you trying to mimic what happens in the human stomach? Do you have a working hypothesis? It is already known that the stomach is acid and that this, along with its churning action and some enzymes, breaks down the food we eat. So, what new question are you asking? A science project is supposed to focus on something that is NOT known and use experiments to test a hypothesis.

You might build a project on the hypothesis that antacid tablets, for heartburn, can interfere with digestion. You could set up several artificial stomachs with solutions of hydrochloric acid at pH 1 to mimic stomach acid. To some you could add one-quarter of an antacid tablet, to others one-half a tablet, 1 tablet , etc. Your control would be no antacid tablets. To test digestion, add equal amounts by weight of a cheeseburger, or other food, and let the stomach ''work' on it for some length of time.

There is a Scibuddies project that is similar to this that you can read to see how antacids neutralize stomach acid: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ml#summary

I'm not sure how you would measure 'digestion' in your artificial stomachs. You could take pictures to show the difference or you could try to weigh the remains of the food to see how much had broken down. I leave that part up to you. The other variable that is important is temperature. Humans operate at an internal temperature of 37C and to accurately mimic digestion you should keep your stomachs at this temperature during the experiment. You could put the containers into a large pot of water on the stove on low heat and use a thermometer to make sure the temp is about 37C. Shake the jars gently every few minutes to simulate the churning of the stomach. I don’t know how long food normally stays in the stomach but this is something you could look up online.

Let us know if you want to try this experiment and we can help you with any planning and execution details.

Sybee

[caraskl]

In the stomach, the chief cells secrete HCL. The acid activates pepsinogen to its active form pepsin, an enzyme that digests protein. I believe that the acid's main role in digestion is activating the pepsinogen, so without the inactive pepsinogen, I believe little of the hamburger would be digested. In addition, the cheeseburger also contains fats and starches,neither of which would be digested without lipases and emulsifying agents and amylases, respectively. In fact, videos have shown that cheeseburgers can remain in acid for hours without decomposing.