Materials List: Digest Your Food!

Each group needs:

  • 6 2-liter soda bottles
  • 3 2-liter bottle caps
  • 3 500-ml plastic water bottles with caps
  • 1.5 meters (5 ft) thin tubing, such as fish tank aeration tubing, which is reusable and can be used for a number of other activities; such as aquarium airline tubing with 0.165-inch inner diameter and 0.225-inch outer diameter, available in various lengths from https://www.petmountain.com/product/lees-airline-tubing-for-aquariums
  • 1.5 liters cow manure, or sediment from the bottom of a pond, swamp or other consistently wet area
  • 1 hot dog
  • lab gloves, one pair per student
  • safety goggles, one per student
  • lab coat, one per student
  • sharpie or similar marker for labeling plastic bottles
  • graduated cylinder
  • Anaerobic Digestion Data Sheet, one per group
  • Anaerobic Digestion Worksheet, one per student

To share with the entire class:

  • hot glue gun and glue sticks
  • drill and a drill bit that is slightly larger than the aeration tubing diameter; alternatively, use a knife to cut holes in bottle caps
  • measuring cup
  • bucket of tap water that has been left sitting out at room temperature for 24 hours (to help the chlorine dissipate); need at least 1.5 liters per group
  • scissors, for cutting plastic bottles and tubing
  • knife and cutting board, to cut hot dogs
  • graph paper, colored pencils/markers, for plotting graphs
https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/usf_biorecycling_lesson01_activity1