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Hi Alissa,
Here's something else to consider in addition to where to get real
(or facsimile) teeth:
Will an experiment of submerging "teeth" into various liquids
actually demonstrate what you want, and in a way that is interesting
to visitors?
The reason I ask is that my 12 year old son is just concluding such
an experiment using his old baby teeth (my wife saves all our kids'
baby teeth --- don't ask me why, but it came in handy this time!)
submerged in test tubes containing Coke, Diet Coke, Mott's Apple
Juice, and Water. After three weeks the teeth in the soda pop have
lost just a few hundredths of a gram each --- barely noticeable. (I
was really surprised, since I've always heard that a tooth dropped
into a bottle of soda would dissolve overnight. At this point, I'd
say that's bunk.) Coke sure stains teeth, but dissolves them?
The liquid in the tubes has discolored and gotten cloudy, but
basically this approach strikes me as a big snore as either a class
activity or as an exhibit. Aside from all the time factor issues (no
visitor is going to see anything actually happen) You might as well
introduce a "paint drying" and/or "ice melting" display as well from
an excitement standpoint! ;-0
My two take-aways from this that might be useful from an exhibit
standpoint:
1) Tooth enamel is really tough, even again sugary stuff, and
2) You can purchase very nice, brand new, digital scales suitable for
museum use, accurate to hundredths of a gram on EBay for around ten
bucks!
----------------------------------------------------------
Paul Orselli, President and Chief Instigator
Paul Orselli Workshop (POW!)
1684 Victoria Street
Baldwin, NY 11510
<http://www.orselli.net>
(516) 223-1043 voice
(516) 238-2797 mobile
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<http://exhibitricks.blogspot.com/>
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