You will need:
- Scissors
- 2 plastic bottles (plastic water bottles will do)
- 12 coffee filters
- Modelling clay
- Thin plastic tubes
(available at chemists) - Funnel
- Large plastic container
- Large sheet of cardboard
- Red food colour
Kidneys filter the food and liquid intake from
the blood stream to keep us healthy. Understand
their function by creating your own model.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Cut 2 plastic bottles in half. You need the top halves of both bottles.
2. Using the scissors cut a cardboard into a rectangular shape.
3. Take your modeling clay and seal the mouth of both bottles.
4. Cut 30 cm each of tubing for two plastic tubes.
5. Gently insert one tube in each bottle, through the clay. Pack the clay around the tube tightly.
6. Stick your bottles upside down onto the cardboard a little apart from each other.
7. The tubes extend into the funnel at the bottom of the cardboard.
8. Take coffee filters and pack 6 filters in each bottle.
9. Place a container under the funnel to collect water.
10. Mix red food colour into water and pour it into both the over-turned bottles.
RESULT
The red-coloured water acts as blood for the purpose of this project. When we pour the coloured water (blood carried by the renal arteries into the kidneys), the coffee (nephrons in the kidneys) filters out all the impurities leaving behind clear water. These impurities are then sent to the bladder to be removed from the body, while the purified plasma-infused blood is sent back into the bloodstream.
