Chemical Senses Experiments

I. Olfaction

Material Needed: Test subject, blind fold, individual 1 tsp solutions of : water, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, liquid soap, fruit juice, milk, extracts of vanilla, peppermint, almond. Other food products such as a saltine cracker, apple, banana, carrot, corn, cookie, butter, radish, orange, green onion, black olive, tomato.

Blindfold the test subject. Ask them to identify the objects by smell only. Record your results.

 

II. Gustation

Make a tongue taste map using Q-tips dipped in the following solutions: Vinegar, fruit juice, salt, lemon. Rinse mouth out with water to begin. Take a Q-tip dipped into one of the solutions and swab it on the test subject's tongue. Draw a representative picture of a tongue and record where they pick up the sensation. Rinse and repeat experiment again until all four solutions are used. The major taste sensations are sweet (fruit juice), sour (lemon juice), salty (salt water), and bitter (vinegar). Repeat on other willing test subjects and note any differences and similarities. Does your taste map "match" what is published in the textbooks? [If not, that's ok].

 

III. Relationship between smell and taste

With a test subject blindfolded, have them eat the food products used in experiment one and ask them to now identify the foods. Is it easier to identify certain foods using both senses? Does the food taste the way it smells?