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18th March 2005 Issue: 19

Science Week is nearly over until next year. Boo hoo! We hope you’ve had lots of fun! Thank-you for sending your lemon juice experiment results to Hay-Wire. This issue will tell you what we found out.
THE EXPERIMENT 

Do you remember the experiment we asked you to try in issue 17? We asked you to place a drop of lemon juice on your tongue. Then we wanted you to soak up the saliva (spit) in your mouth with cotton wool balls. Next, you were asked to weigh the cotton wool balls and to email Hay-Wire with the results. We also wanted to know whether you were a shy person (an ‘introvert) or a loud person (an ‘extrovert’).

We wanted to know what type of person you are because scientists believe that the amount of saliva you produce might have something to do with what type of person you are...

People who are said to be ‘extroverts’ are confident and outgoing. Scientists say they WON’T PRODUCE MUCH saliva after placing the lemon juice on their tongues.

People who are said to be introverts are shy and quiet. Scientists say they will PRODUCE A LOT of saliva after placing lemon juice on their tongues...
THE RESULTS

We received nearly 200 experiment results! We sorted the results from introverts into one table and the results from extroverts into another table. Then we found the average amount of saliva produced by each group. We found that:

Introverts produced an average of 1.0 grams of saliva, 

and:

Extroverts produced an average of 0.8 grams of saliva.
CONCLUSION

It seems the scientists were right! Introverts did indeed produce more saliva in our experiment. So why is this? Well, it’s all to do with a part of the brain called the Reticular Activating System (RAS for short)...

It involves a lot of complicated science, but we’re going to make it simple. Your RAS reacts to things like food and drink and to feelings. In the experiment, the lemon juice makes your mouth water because your RAS is responding to the lemon juice. Your RAS controls the amount of saliva you produce.

An introvert’s RAS is more active than an extrovert’s RAS. This means an introvert will generally produce more saliva in the experiment than an extrovert.

Of course, the experiment also proved what a great bunch you Hay-Wire subscribers are for joining in with the experiment! Give yourselves a pat on the back!
WINNERS

All that’s left is to announce the winner of the super science kit worth around £100. We placed all your experiment result emails into a hat and pulled out one lucky winner. He was:

Steve Nixon from Two Trees Community High School.

Congratulations!

We also offered a free Frisbee for each subscriber who emailed their results, so all those who took part should have received their Frisbee by now. If not, then email: Hay-Wire.Clubhouse@nesta.org.uk and we’ll sort it out for you.
INFORMATION OVERLOAD

Don’t forget that Hay-Wire will be hitting your inboxes every fortnight from now on, but in the meantime, send any questions, comments, jokes or experiment ideas to: Hay-Wire.Clubhouse@nesta.org.uk

Bye for now!

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