Caffeine, Coffee and Tea oh My!Does that cup of coffee or black tea you drink in the morning really give you that wake up call?

Corina Correa, Nina Valencia, Casandra GomezEdison Computech Midle School

Ms. Hubner

AbstractDoes caffeine really work? Which works better, coffee or black tea? We asked ourselves these

questions and decided to test them out. We conducted many trials with the same methods.

Our method consisted of dipping earth worms in coffee and black tea for 30 seconds. We compared how long it took them to dig

themselves out before being put in the coffee vs. the time after being put in the coffee. So the

question is, was there an effect?

INTRODUCTIONWe asked ourselves, “Will

caffeinated coffee and caffeinated black tea have an effect on a worm’s time/movement; if so which one will have a greater

effect the coffee or the tea?” We decided to test this out! In the

research we found out that both caffeinated coffee and black tea increases the blood pressure and pulse rate. We also learned that coffee consumption has been

associated with elevated plasma cholesterol. We chose worms

because both worms and humans have a heart and blood. Only the

people who do not regularly drink coffee or black tea are effected by

the caffeine. Caffeine blocks a chemical in your body that makes you drowsy. Caffeine is strongly

addictive which makes coffee and black tea addictive too. This goes for

any caffeine product, so beware!Question: Will caffeinated coffee and caffeinated black tea have an

effect on a worm’s time/movement; if so which one

will have a greater effect the coffee or the tea?

Hypothesis: We believe that caffeinated coffee and caffeinated tea will have an effect, coffee will have a greater effect than the tea. RESULTS

Yes! The worms dug themselves out at a faster rate. This we expected, but what we didn’t expect was the worms that were put in the black tea were

effected more. The worms that were put in the black tea had an average change of 62.8 seconds.

The worms put in the coffee had an average change of 61.5 seconds. This proved our

hypothesis wrong. Here are a couple of tables and a graph to reinforce our information. All of the information we gained during the experiment is summarized in our graph and table. All in all we

were very satisfied with our results.

METHODSTo take on this interesting

experiment we used a couple of methods. First we put the earth

worms in soil and timed how long it took to dig themselves out. Then we put an earth worm in a bowl filled

with 1/3 cup of coffee for 30seconds. Finally we put them

back in the soil and timed them on how long it took them to uncover themselves with the coffee in their system. We tested 15 worms with

the coffee. We repeated this process exactly the same with 15 other worms but instead of coffee we

used black tea. In the soil, coffee, and tea we added with 1/6 cup of

water.

DISCUSSIONOnce we had finished analyzing all our data we came to a conclusion

that caffeinated coffee and caffeinated black tea did have an

effect on the worms’ speed/ movement. The worms had an

average time of 96 seconds to dig themselves out of the soil before

being put in the coffee. After being put in the coffee their average time

changed to 34 seconds. Before being put in the black tea, the earth worms had an average time of 87

seconds. After being put in the black tea they had an average of 24

seconds. The thing we found interesting was that the time it took for each worm to reach the surface was different, this shows that like

humans, worms are different to one another too. Finally we discussed which worked better, the coffee or

the black tea? We agreed on something that surprised us, tea worked better. We also agreed

caffeine had an effect.

Time Before Tea Time in Tea Time after Tea Time before Coffee Time in Coffee Time after Coffee67 30 22 150 30 4583 30 15 105 30 3085 30 19 110 30 1082 30 20 100 30 2349 30 14 103 30 2366 30 17 65 30 3876 30 23 76 30 4281 30 29 87 30 35

107 30 56 100 30 43116 30 24 97 30 2582 30 31 88 30 39

123 30 32 62 30 34108 30 20 119 30 4689 30 15 82 30 3291 30 26 92 30 48

Average: Average: Average: Average:87 24.2 95.73333333 34.2