Science Fair Project Does Mint Cool Things Down Davis Green Mrs. Pace Richmond County Technical Career Magnet High School

Statement of the Problem Does mint, known for its cooling effect, really lower temperatures, or is it just a sensation?

Research The ancient Egyptians, one of the most medically-advanced ancient cultures, cultivated and used peppermint leaves for indigestion. The ancient Romans and Greeks also took peppermint to soothe their stomachs. The main active ingredient in Peppermint is Menthol, which is an organic compound that produces a cooling sensation when applied to the mouth or skin. It also acts as a mild anesthetic Mint, also known as mentha, is actually a genus or group of around 15-20 plant species, including peppermint and spearmint. Mint has one of the highest antioxidant capacities of any food.

Variables Independent Variable: Altoids, Mentos, Tic-Tacs, Ice Breakers, Sprig of Mint Leaf Dependent Variable: Temperature of the water Control or Constant Variable: Water with no mint product

Hypothesis If I place mint in a cup of hot water then it will cool faster than a plain cup of hot water, because of its cooling effects.

Materials Pack of Mentos, Altoids, Tic Tacs, Ice Breakers and a Sprig of Mint Leaf Six - 8 oz. glasses of hot water Thermometer Pen and Paper

Procedure 1. Get a glass of hot water and take the temperature with a thermometer. Record this. 2. Place 2 tic tac mints in the glass of hot water and take the temperature again. Was there a change? 3. Place more mints in the glass of hot water 2 at a time and record whether you see any change at all. I will monitor it for 30 minutes. 4. I will do the same with the other mint items: altoids, mentos, ice breakers, and mint leaf. 5. The other glass of hot water is to be used as a reference. This is because we know that water cools over time and we want to make sure that if there is any change in temperature, it is not independent of time, but of the mints speeding up the cooling process. 6. Record your results. Any changes?

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Data/Observations Cooling Temperatures of Mints in Water: Name Start Temp Temp 5min 10 min 15 min 20 min 25 min 30 min Hot Water no mint 41.4 4.7 35.6 34.2 33.1 32.6 31.3 Altoids 42.9 Tic Tacs 41.2 39.4 36.1 34.7 34.3 32.2 31.0 Ice breakers 42.7 40.2 38.8 35.5 33.7 32.4 Mentos 39.1 38.1 35.3 34.9 32.1 31.1 Mint Leaves 38.7 37.0 33.5 32.7

Conclusion Based upon my hypothesis I tested the affects of different types of mint products. This was to determine if they cooled the water down quicker than allowing it to sit at room temperature and cool. Each was placed in the hot water and watched for 30 minutes. The temperature was recorded every 5 minutes to determine if the water was cooling off. The control which was the hot water with no mint at all cooled at a rate of 1 to 6 degrees per 5 minutes. The Mint leaf cooled at a slower rate of .3 to 1 degree every 5 min. The final results showed that over 30 minutes the Tic Tac cooled the most but only .3 degrees less than the altoid and hot water. The Tic Tac cooled the fastest of all over time with a margin of .3 degrees. This did prove my hypothesis that mint does cool water fastest. It didn’t cool it as fast as I thought it would, but this was a fun and interesting project.

Works Cited Iscan G, Kirimer N, Kurkcuoglu M, et al. Antim, Mentha Poperita essential oils, Agric Food Chem 2002; 50:3943-6. Nair B. Find report on the safety assessment of Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) oil, Toxicol 2001; 20:61 – 73. Tate S. Peppermint Oil; a treatment for postoperative nausea. JAdv Nurs 1997; 26:543-9