Krampf
Experiment of the Week - #166 Shedding Your Skin
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This week's experiment was one of those accidental discoveries that I
love so much. All my life I have heard about the fact that the outer
layer of your skin is made up of dead cells. These dead cells are your
first line of defense against germs, harmful chemicals, etc. It is one
thing to hear about this dead skin, but it is another thing to actually
see it. I happened to be sitting in a beam of light when I scratched my
arm and immediately knew what I would do for this weeks experiment. You
will need:
* a dark room with a window
* a sunny day
* you
Close the curtains, leaving just a narrow slit for light to come
through. This experiment will work best if you time it so that the sun
is shining into the window, so if your window faces east, do it in the
morning. If your window faces west, wait until afternoon. If your
window faces north or south, you may have to move to a different room.
Darken the room and you should be able to see the beam of sunlight,
with dust particles floating in it. This in itself is a wonderful
experiment, just watching all of the "stuff" that is in the air you
breath.
Once you are through watching the dust, hold your hand in the beam of
light. Now, gently scratch the back of your hand, as if it itched. As
we saw a few weeks ago, if you think about it for a minute, you won't
have to pretend that it itches. Opps. Sorry. Did not mean to get you
itching again. Watch as you scratch your hand and you will see LOTS of
particles being scratched off your hand. Those particles are dead skin
cells. Every time you scratch, wash, rub, etc., these dead cells fall
off. Most of my references say that as much as 80% of the dust on your
furniture is made of dead skin.
Don't worry about all that dead skin going to waste. Your house is also
full of tiny creatures called dust mites. The dust mites eat dead skin
cells. They are too small to see without a powerful microscope, but
they are everywhere in your house. Opps. Now I have given you another
reason to itch. These dust mites are the real cause of most dust
allergies. Their droppings and broken up pieces of their exoskeleton
float through the air as dust. That is what causes your allergic
reaction. Isn't it nice to know about some of the things that are in
the air you breath?