How to Make Gatorade Lungs

Trafton B.

July 28, 2010 - 9:41 PM

This week's assignment for Stanford Speech Class was the "Demonstration Speech." Each student was given the task of presenting a speech in which he or she had to teach and/or demonstrate how to do something. The presentations were only five minutes long so specific and menial tasks were preferred. There were a few standard topics, such as ‘How to Throw a Football,' ‘How to Make a Sandwich,' and a couple card tricks. Then there were some fairly creative presentations, like ‘How to Make a Camera from a Tissue Box,' ‘How to Make a Soccer Ball with a Roll of Tape,' and my personal favorite, ‘How to Seduce an American Girl in Two Minutes.' That speech was given by a French student whose best line was, "The most important step is to have an foreign accent. If you don't have an accent...well...just get an accent. It helps, trust me."

As I was watching these speeches, I thought about what topic I would present on if I were taking this class. Then I remembered the lesson I'd taught for my 7th Graders at Aim High earlier that day. My co-teachers and I led a class in which we made model lungs with Gatorade bottles. The kids loved it, so I figured you all might find this interesting as well. Without further adieu, here's a quick lesson on the human respiratory system.

Materials: (Refer to above diagram to see finished product with all materials labeled)
• One 20-ounce Gatorade bottle
• Two straws
• Two Small balloons
• One Latex glove
• Duct Tape
• Sharp knife.

Step 1: The Trachea & Bronchial Tubes. Cut one straw in half and insert both half-size straws into the bottom end of whole straw to make a long Y-Shaped straw. Tape together with duct tape.

Step 2: The Lungs. Tape one small balloon around the end of both half-size straws. Don't stick the straws too far into the balloons. You want to have the balloons dangling.

Step 3: The Mouth (sort of). Use the knife to cut a hole in the bottle cap large enough for the whole straw to fit through. Use duct tape to secure the straw and make the opening as airtight as possible. After assembling, screw the cap back onto the bottle with the small balloons/half-straws inside.

Step 4: The Diaphragm. Cut the bottom off the Gatorade bottle off and wrap the latex glove around the opening. Secure with tape.

Voilá! Four easy steps for making a model of lungs. Now, in order to demonstrate the way or lungs work, pinch the glove at bottom and pull downwards, away from the bottle. You'll notice that the balloons inflate. Then if you push the glove back into the bottle, the balloons will deflate. This motion of pulling and pushing the glove represents our diaphragm, the long muscle located beneath the lunch, as it flexes and relaxes. When the diaphragm flexes downward we are breathing in and filling our lungs. When the diaphragm relaxes upwards we are breathing out and expelling air from our lungs. That's the basics of negative pressure breathing.

It might take a little more than five minutes for the first time, but if twenty-four seventh graders can do it then I'm confident you can figure it out.

Here's a funny story about preparing these materials for our seventh graders. We bought Gatorade bottles for the kids over a week ago, and we didn't want to any so my co-teachers and I spent all last week drinking Gatorade. When we finished on Friday, we set the twenty-four empty bottles aside for the weekend. Initially we had planned on teaching the Gatorade Lungs on Monday, but when Monday morning rolled around we quickly noticed a problem. All the bottles were gone!! We came to the conclusion that the janitor most likely found them a tossed them away. We were absolutely devastated. All of our hard work erased and tossed in a recycling bin.

Lesson learned, you will never be completely prepared for a class. Or, as we teachers say, expect the unexpected.