2. What happens to our body while we are in space?
• In space, the human body is
being affected by the
absence of gravity, and the
part that changes the most is
our skeleton.
• There’s no gravity, so the
weight that our body has to
carry is pretty much
insignificant, and we can lose
around 1% of our bone mass
each month we spend in
space. If astronauts don’t
train at least 2 hours per day,
they are more likely to catch
a desease called
osteoporosis.
3. Experiment
• Here’s a quick experiment to demonstrate that
phenomenon.
• All you need are two chicken legs (with all the meat
removed, in order to use the bone), two pieces of
cardboard (a normal one an one filled with holes)
and some hydrocloric acid.
4. Operation:
• First we had to take two chicken legs, one
“normal” and one macerated overnight in
diluted hydrochloric acid.
• Then we had to try to break the bone.
• After that we had to take two equal pieces of
cardboard, one “normal” and one perforated
with tiny holes.
• At the end we had to try to rip the both.
5. Results (Italy)
The chicken leg in acid was easier to break than the
normal one, as well as the piece of cardboard filled
with holes.
Results (Belgium)
A bone soaked in acid breaks much easier than the
normal bone also the cardboard with holes rips
much easier than the carboard without holes.
6. Let’s compare!
• Our experiments showed us the same results,
and we’ve been able to see what it looks like
for astronauts and their skeleton, while they
are in space, and why it’s important for them
to keep on
7. Conclusion
• Astronauts are more likely to develop osteoporosis
than others. Why?
• Bone is a living tissue, the bones in our body are
continually renewed by the activity of bone cells. When
the bones don’t burden e.g. During a stay in the space
under weightlessness, the bone mass is increases
dramatically by the fact that there is osteoporosis.
There is then less bone tissue so they are more fragile
and break a lot easier. The paper with holes has less '
tissue ' so it easily rips. The same when the bone is
soaked in acid because calcium dissolves in acid.
