|
||||||||||||||
National Institutes of Health
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Main Getting Started Teacher's Guide Student Activities About NIH and NIAAA
 |
 |
Students investigate what is meant by a drink in reference to an alcoholic beverage. Demonstrations using food coloring and water illustrate that various types of alcoholic drinks contain the same amount of alcohol although the total volume of liquid is different. Simulated alcoholic drinks are then diluted into a mixture of oil and water that represents the fat- and water-containing portions of the body. This demonstrates how alcohol is distributed within the body.
The concentration of alcohol in beer is lower than that in wine or hard liquor. However, the total amount of alcohol in a typical serving of beer (12 ounces), wine (5 ounces), and hard liquor (1.5 ounces) is the same. Because alcohol is miscible, or able to mix, with water, it distributes throughout the water-containing portions of the body. The brain has a high water content, and alcohol exerts many of its effects there.
After completing this lesson, students will
Consult the following sections in Information about Alcohol:
| Activity | Web Version? |
|---|---|
1 |
No |
2 |
No |
| Activity 1 | Master 2.1, What Is a Drink? (Make one copy per student and prepare a transparency.) |
|---|---|
| Activity 2 | Master 2.2, Tracing Alcohol's Path through the Body (Prepare a transparency.) |
| Activity 1 | For the class: |
|---|---|
| Activity 2 | For the class: |
| a Large beakers (2,000 mL) or clear, 2-liter soda bottles may be good choices if larger containers are not available. b Ideally, all of the containers will be transparent to help the class see the color intensities of the simulated alcoholic beverages. c Other colors of food coloring may be used. Be sure to select a color that will show up well in the demonstration. Yellow may not be a good choice. d The 8-ounce containers should be tall and slender (such as a drinking glass) as opposed to short and stout. This helps students visualize the water and oil phases. e If you are doing this demonstration in front of a large class, you may wish to adapt it for your situation. If you use the volumes of water, mineral oil, and food-coloring solution listed, you may wish to walk around the room with the containers so that students can see them well. Alternatively, you may scale up the volumes of each liquid and use larger containers. Visually, this may be more effective, but it necessitates additional materials. f If you are doing the demonstration for multiple classes, you can separate the mineral oil from the water and reuse it, but that requires additional preparation time. |
|
Fill four 1-gallon containers about three-quarters full of water. Prepare diluted red-food-coloring solution by adding 1 teaspoon of the food coloring to one of the gallon containers that has been filled about three-quarters full with water. Mix.
Prepare the simulated shot of hard liquor by adding 1.5 ounces of the diluted red-food-coloring solution to the shot glass or small cup (1.5 ounces total).
Prepare the simulated glass of wine by adding 1.5 ounces of the diluted red-food-coloring solution to the wine glass or a medium cup containing 3.5 ounces of water (5 ounces total).
Prepare the simulated mug of beer by adding 1.5 ounces of the diluted red-food-coloring solution to the beer mug or large cup containing 10.5 ounces of water (12 ounces total).
Teacher note
Practice this demonstration before attempting it in front of a class to ensure that the differences in color are obvious. Notice that each of the three simulated beverages contains the same amount of food coloring (“alcohol”). The “shot” should be noticeably darker than the “wine,” which should be noticeably darker than the “beer.” If the three drinks do not have noticeably different color intensities, then you may have to change the amount of food coloring that you add when you make the diluted food-coloring solution.
Teacher note
To reduce the amount of materials needed, this activity is described as a teacher demonstration. You can perform the dilutions yourself or have student volunteers assist. If you prefer, you can divide the class into small groups and have them each perform the activity.
Place 2 ounces of rubbing alcohol into a container and add three drops of red food coloring. Mix to give the solution a uniform color. Divide the red rubbing-alcohol solution equally between the two smaller containers.
To simulate different body types, pour 6 ounces of water into one drinking glass (or other transparent container), and pour 4 ounces of water into the other drinking glass.
Slowly and carefully pour 2 ounces of mineral oil down the side of the drinking glass that contains 6 ounces of water. Being less dense than water, the mineral oil will form a layer on top of the water.
Slowly and carefully pour 4 ounces of mineral oil down the side of the drinking glass that contains 4 ounces of water.
Teacher note
Save some diluted food coloring and the beer mug (or a clear glass) to use during Lesson 4.
Teacher note
You may notice that this lesson uses units of ounces and gallons instead of metric units. This is because alcoholic beverages in the United States are typically described using ounces and this system is more familiar to students.
Students will name a variety of alcoholic beverages, including specific varieties of beers, wines, and hard liquors.
Students likely will have heard the term hard liquor, but they may not understand what it means. At this stage, simply tell students that it refers to the way the alcoholic beverages are produced.
Allow students to express their views. Some students will have misconceptions about the different types of alcoholic beverages. For example, some students will say that the effects of alcohol depend only on the amount, or total volume, of a drink (of any type) that a person consumes. Other students will volunteer that hard liquor contains more alcohol per unit of volume than does beer or wine. Students will revisit this question after the demonstration.
Students will mention that the beverages have different volumes of liquid, and that the red color varies in shade among the different drinks. The liquid in the shot glass has the deepest red color, and the liquid in the beer glass has the lightest red color. Do not explain at this point that each drink has the same amount of “alcohol.”
Because each glass contains 1.5 ounces of the diluted red-food-coloring solution, the shade of red in each should be about the same. (Since the simulated drinks have different volumes, the final volumes in the gallon containers will be slightly different.) If the gallon containers are not clear enough for the class to see the colors of the solutions, then pour equal quantities of the solutions into separate clear beakers or drinking glasses, so that students can accurately compare the tints of the three solutions.
Before proceeding, make sure that the class understands that the red food coloring represents alcohol in the drink and that its spread throughout the water simulates the distribution of alcohol throughout a person's bloodstream.
Since the color intensity is an indicator of concentration, students should report that the containers have equal concentrations of food coloring (alcohol).
Students should respond that if the final concentrations are equal, then the total amount of alcohol added to each container is the same because the volumes in the containers are about the same.
Without using actual alcohol concentrations, make sure that the class understands that beer has the lowest concentration, wine an intermediate concentration, and hard liquor the highest.
Having students see that the different glasses contain the same amount of “alcohol” even though the final volume of liquid is different should help eliminate confusion.
Alcohol distributes throughout a person’s bloodstream. A smaller person has a lesser volume of blood compared with a larger one. This means that a given amount of alcohol will lead to a greater blood alcohol concentration in the smaller person than the larger one.
Type of drink |
Volume of serving (in ounces) |
Concentration of alcohol expressed as a percent |
Concentration of alcohol expressed as a percent in decimal form |
Total amount of alcohol (in ounces) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beer | 12 |
5 |
0.05 |
0.6 |
| Wine | 5 |
12 |
0.12 |
0.6 |
| Hard liquor | 1.5 |
40 |
0.40 |
0.6 |
Answers to questions on Master 2.1, What Is a Drink?, follow:
Students should recognize that typical servings of beer, wine, and hard liquor contain about the same amounts of alcohol. It is not the type of drink but rather the amount of alcohol consumed that determines the extent to which an individual is affected by drinking.
Question 1. Which contains more alcohol, a 12-ounce bottle of beer that is 5 percent alcohol or 1 ounce of whiskey that is 50 percent alcohol? Show your calculations.
The serving of beer contains more alcohol than does the serving of whiskey.
Beer: 12 ounces x 0.05 (that is, 5% alcohol) = 0.6 ounce alcohol
Whiskey: 1 ounce x 0.50 (that is, 50% alcohol) = 0.5 ounce alcohol
Question 2. Based on your calculations, is it safer for a person to drink beer than it is to drink whiskey?
The higher alcohol content of the beer in Question 1 demonstrates that it is not safer to drink beer than it is to drink hard liquor. Rather, the alcohol content and volume consumed determine the effects of the alcoholic beverage on an individual.
Working through this question enables students to respond correctly to Statement 4 on Master 1.1, Alcohol: Is This Right?: “Drinking beer is safer than drinking wine or hard liquor such as vodka or whiskey.”
Teacher note
Students may raise questions about a “shot,” or 1.5 ounces, being the typical serving size for hard liquor. Students are likely to have seen mixed drinks containing hard liquor that are much larger than 1.5 ounces. Remind students that these drinks often have other liquids, such as water, juice, or soft drinks, mixed in with the alcohol. You may remind students that a 12-ounce beer contains the same number of ounces of alcohol (0.6 ounces; see the table above), and the rest is primarily water.
Teacher note
In the classroom, you may encounter questions about how the percentage of alcohol in a drink relates to the concept of proof. In the United States, proof is a measure equivalent to twice the percentage of alcohol by volume; that is, an 80-proof liquor is 40 percent alcohol by volume.
Students should respond that the percentage of alcohol in the drink and the serving size determine the amount of alcohol contained in an alcoholic beverage.
You may want to prompt students by saying that alcohol enters through the mouth. Then ask, “Where does alcohol go next?”
Alcohol is normally taken into the body through the mouth. After it is swallowed, it passes down the throat (esophagus). Help the students appreciate that when alcohol is consumed, it is first absorbed by the stomach and small intestine, then incorporated into the bloodstream. Students may continue by saying that alcohol goes to the liver, where it is metabolized (or broken down). After alcohol is metabolized, it passes through the kidneys, which process it for excretion in the urine. Be sure that students trace the path as depicted in Figure 2.4 below.
Students should note that the liquids form two layers and that the layers differ in size. The total volume of liquid (oil + water) is the same in each container. The oil is the top layer, and the water is the bottom layer.
Tip from the field test: Students can relate the two containers to people with different body types—one a lean athlete with a lower amount of body fat and the other a couch potato with a higher amount of body fat. However, be sure to reinforce the idea that you are comparing two people of the same weight.
Other examples of immiscible liquids that students may think of include oil spills in the ocean where the oil floats on the surface and oil-and-vinegar salad dressings that separate into layers when the bottle is not shaken. An example of miscible liquids that students would be familiar with would be lemon juice and water (lemonade).
Again, responses will vary. Some will respond that alcohol will mix evenly throughout the solutions, while others will predict that alcohol will mix with either the oil or the water.
The alcohol mixes with the lower water layer. Bubbles will appear in the oil layer as the alcohol passes through it. Some red color might be seen in the bubbles, but it should be obvious that the alcohol is preferentially mixing with the water layer.
As with the first container, students should notice that the alcohol mixes with the water but not the oil.
Students should note that the red color is more concentrated in the glass containing the smaller amount of water (4 ounces) and more mineral oil than in the glass containing more water (6 ounces) and less mineral oil. As before, the total amount of liquid in each container is equal. Alcohol is miscible with water and not with oil.
It is not possible to tell just by appearance how people will be affected by alcohol. As you recall from the demonstrations, alcohol mixes with water and not with oil; this is true in the body as well. Two people of the same size may have different amounts of body fat. The leaner person’s body contains more water than the body of the person with the higher body-fat level. Therefore, the concentration of alcohol (in the water-containing portions of the body) would be higher in the person with more body fat (same amount of alcohol in a lower total volume). This means that the higher-body-fat person would be more affected by a given dose of alcohol than a lean person of the same size. Because females, on average, have more body fat than males, they tend to feel the effects of alcohol more readily than do men. In summary, because body-fat content cannot be determined by appearance alone, it is not possible to predict the effects of alcohol on an individual solely by visual examination.
A number of factors, including body size, account for human variation in response to alcohol. A larger body size means a greater blood volume for alcohol distribution as compared with a smaller body size with an equal body fat content. Thus, in general, a larger person will be less influenced by a given alcohol dose than a smaller person will.
Since the brain is affected by alcohol, it must contain a significant amount of water into which the alcohol can mix.
Teacher note
These questions may bring up some sensitive issues for students. The effects of alcohol on the body are more complex than body size and amount of body fat. Although females are usually smaller than males and have higher levels of body fat, a comparison strictly on the basis of gender is not accurate. Other factors also influence how alcohol affects a person. For example, females, in general, are more sensitive to the effects of alcohol than males are because of differences in distribution.
| Activity 1: What Is a Drink? | |
|---|---|
| What the Teacher Does | Procedure Reference |
| Ask the class to name different kinds of alcoholic beverages and list them on the board. | Step 1 |
| Have the class categorize each beverage as beer, wine, or hard liquor. | Step 2 |
| Invite students to consider differences between the different types of drinks. | Step 3 |
| Show the class three simulated alcoholic beverages and ask the students to share their observations about them. | Steps 4 and 5 |
Show the class three containers of water that each represent a human body.
|
Step 6 |
Pour each of the simulated drinks into a separate container and ask the class,
|
Steps 7–10 |
Introduce the concept of concentration and ask the class,
|
Steps 11–14 |
Have the class consider how the same amount of alcohol affects a smaller person compared with a larger person.
|
Step 15 |
| Have the students calculate the amount of alcohol in each type of drink using Master 2.1, What Is a Drink? Ask them to draw conclusions about how different drinks compare with each other. |  Steps 16 and 17 |
| Ask the class to identify factors that determine the amount of alcohol in an alcoholic beverage. |
Step 18 |
| Activity 2: Where Does Alcohol Go in the Body? | |
| What the Teacher Does | Procedure Reference |
Discuss where alcohol goes once it enters the body.
|
Steps 1–3 |
Show the class two containers with mixtures of oil and water.
|
Steps 4 and 5 |
| Ask the class to predict what will happen when a simulated alcoholic drink is poured into each container. | Step 6 |
Pour the simulated drinks into each container. Ask the class,
|
Steps 7–9 |
Have the class relate their observations to people drinking alcohol.
|
Step 10 |
|
|
| = Involves using a transparency. |
|
