Liver Failure

Purpose: Alcohol is a poison to the body and it must be eliminated from the bloodstream by the liver. The liver can only process one can of beer, glass of wine or shot of hard liquor per hour. If more than this amount enters the bloodstream in a one hour period, the liver can not keep up with the detoxifying process. After extended use a disease called “Cirrhosis of the liver” develops and causes the liver to have trouble processing alcohol. This demonstration will show how the liver detoxifies the blood by taking the alcohol out of the blood through a detoxification process.

Materials:

1. 1 glass jar with a wide mouth, such as a canning jar or a quart mayonnaise jar

2. 1 sponge

3. A dish large enough to soak your sponge in

4. 2 small, clear water glasses

5. A bottle of food coloring (red works best)

6. A bottle of bleach

Activity: Do this part of the demonstration without the class watching. To start pour some bleach into the small dish. Place the sponge in the dish and allow it to become thoroughly soaked with bleach. Fill the 2 small glasses with water. Put a drop of food coloring in each glass so that the water turns a dark, but not really dark, shade of red. Take the sponge out of the bleach and fold it so it will fit down in to the mouth of the jar. Do not push it in very far. The sponge should be covering as much of the opening as possible. You want any liquid that you pour into the jar to have to pass through the sponge on its way in. Some of the bleach will be squeezed out of the sponge and go to the bottom of the jar as you push it in the mouth of the jar. You need to get this back into the sponge. To do this, turn the jar upside down and let the sponge reabsorb the bleach. Be careful of your clothes and surfaces that you are working on. The bleach will cause damage if left on your clothes or some other surfaces.

To start the demonstration, take one of the glasses of water with food coloring and slowly pour it through the bleach-soaked sponge and into the jar. As the water goes through the sponge, it will become lighter in color and it should become completely clear as it reaches the bottom of the jar. Save a little of the water in the glass and compare it to the color of the water in the bottom of the jar. Explain that the sponge

Page 2 Liver Failure

is playing the role of the liver and the colored water represents the alcohol in the bloodstream.

Now take the 2^nd glass of colored water and pour it into the jar quicker than the 1^st glass. This represents alcohol that is put into the bloodstream too quickly for the liver to process or detoxify it. Point out that this happens to a liver that has been working for too many years to process alcohol and has “worn out.” As the water passes through the sponge, it will be darker than the first glass that you poured through. If the color is clear, then you need to pour faster. Once you have finished the demonstration, put the jar out of sight. The color will eventually disappear due to the amount of bleach that is present in the bottom of the jar. You will need to practice this demonstration a few times before you do it for your group. It takes practice to be able to pour at the right speed through the sponge.

Processing:

1. How effective was the sponge when the water went through it the first time?

2. How effective was the sponge when the water went through it the second time?

3. How can we relate this demonstration to our own liver?

4. What can this demonstration tell us about alcohol?

5. What short-term problems can alcohol cause for your liver?

6. What long-term problems can alcohol cause for your liver?

Resource: More Activities that Teach, Tom Jackson