Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Determine if higher caffeine content in an energy drink increases heart
rate the most?
I will choose three different energy drinks for this experiment: Red Bull, Monster, and Rockstar. I am going to test 3 subjects or people. None of the subjects drink caffeine on a regular basis. I am going to measure heart rate of each subject before drinking the
energy drinks. Each subject will be asked to drink one of the three energy drinks. When the energy drink will be
consumed, the subject's heart rate will be measured every 15 minutes for an hour. I am going to repeat this process
for each subject on seperate days until all three energy drinks are consumed. Only one energy drink will be
consumed per day for all subjects.

Does this project makes sense?
Does this project is a 8th grade level?
I don't know on what thing I am going to do the research on.
Is there something wrong?
Please help me!!!!!
I only have 8 days left.

Hi muna123,

Your project makes perfect sense.

I would make sure you get it preapproved though since you are using human subjects. Some science fairs require approval of using using human subjects. If your teacher has already approved it, you should be fine for school. However, if you present your project at a regional fair, you might need to do some additional paperwork.

Here are the instructions for getting approval: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ects.shtml

Your project is at an appropriate level for an 8th grader.

As for doing research, here are some things I suggest you read about:

-The chemical structure of caffeine
-Effects of caffeine on the body (there are more effects than heart rate)
-How different concentrations of caffeine affect humans and other animals (at what concentration does it start affecting people? What happens if they have too much? How often and how much does a human need to take in order to become addicted?)
-When caffeine enters the body, what happens? (how does it interact in the brain? You'll want to study adenosine receptors).

You might want to read wikipedia to get started. It shouldn't be a primary source, but it can give you a good overview of the terms you should study and it often has links to good bibliography sources at the bottom of the article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine

Take a look at our Project Guide, which walks you step by step through doing a science fair project. You can find it under this link: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ndex.shtml
It is called "How to Do a Science Fair Project"
The Project Guide also talks about how to do a research paper.

As you are doing research, you are probably going to come across words and concepts that are confusing and don't make sense at first. Don't get discouraged, as this is perfectly normal. Just keep reading things over and over again (sometimes you have to read something more than 10 times!), and look up any words you don't understand. Eventually it will start to make sense!

When you study your results, make sure to analyze how the different concentrations of caffeine in the drinks affected the test subjects. This will make your project more advanced than saying that the heart rate increased when they had caffeine.

Good luck and let us know if you have more questions.

Hi there,

You have come up with a very good project design! Make sure that you test each person's resting heart rate prior to drinking each drink (not only at the beginning of the entire experiment).

You should also include the ingredients of the individual drinks in your background research. How much caffeine does each drink contain? What other ingredients are in the drinks - such as sugar - that might affect heart rate?

Also, you should include a control trial for each person. Have each person drink water, but measure heart rate in exactly the same way you do for the energy drink trials. This does not have to be done first, but it will show whether just the act of drinking might increase a person's heart rate.

Good luck, and let us know if you have any more questions!

Cheers,
Heather