Experiment of Regulation of Human Body Temperature Through Sweat Production

Objective :

To determine the changes in temperature and humidity of human's body through sweat production.

Introduction :

Exposure of our body to high temperature can lead to an increase in body temperature. Blood vessels near the skin's surface dissipate heat well. Therefore blood flow in the skin rises in cases on increased body temperature. To help heat dissipation, sweat production increases significantly. It is done by over 3 million sweat glands spread to keep body temperature, but it can lead to dehydration if water loss is not replaced by drinking. in this experiment we measure the effect of increasing hand temperature on heat dissipation through sweat production.

Materials :

Data logger, temperature sensor, humidity sensor, plastic glove and rubber band.

Procedure :

1. Set up the data logger.
2. Connect the temperature and humidity sensors to the data logger starting from right.
3. Set the range of data logger. The rate is 10 per seconds and the sample is 2000.
4. Hold the temperature sensor with your fingertips for 5 minutes. Record the reading.
5. After that, cover your hand by using glove together with the humidity sensor while holding the temperature sensor for 10 minutes. Cover the end of the glove tightly by using a rubber band. Record the reading.
6. After 10 minutes, remove the glove and let your hand at room temperature for another 5 minutes. Record the reading.
7. Connect the data logger to the computer. A graph and a table will be shown on the screen of the computer.

Result :

Discussion :

Based on the graph, the temperature is inversely proportional to the humidity. When the temperature increases, the humidity decreases. Before the hand is covered by using the glove, the temperature is high because of the temperature of the surrounding. Temperature is the amount of thermal energy while humidity refers to the amount of water vapour in the air. The humidity lowering as the temperature increases because more water can be evaporated since there is more thermal energy available to do the work of evaporation. When the hand is covered, the temperature increases for a while thus makes the hand sweats to reduce the temperature. as the hand sweats, the humidity in the glove increase while the temperature become lower. When the glove is removed, the temperature increases again because of the surrounding temperature and hence lowering the humidity.

Conclusion :

In conclusion, the humidity depends on the temperature of surrounding.