In science, we’ve been learning about microbes, infections and diseases.
At the moment, due to Covid-19, we are trying to keep our distance and use tissues to sneeze and cough into to help reduce the spread of infection. We thought we would investigate this to see if it really does work.
First of all, we created a ‘sneezing runway’ with paper and metre sticks.
We then filled a spray bottle (a nose) with water and food colouring.
Then, we simulated a sneeze by squeezing the trigger once over the paper. Before ‘sneezing’ we predicted how far and wide the sneeze would go. Then we measured accurately with the rulers and recorded the result.
The next step was to observe what happens when we put our hand over our mouth when we sneeze; the microbes stay on our hands and can spread to anything we touch. We used a hand with a glove on it.
Finally, we wanted to observe what happens when we cover our mouth with a tissue during sneezing. We held a tissue directly in front of the spray nozzle. We predicted if this would reduce the distance a sneeze could travel and then made accurate measurements.
What did we find out?
When sneezing without any protection, the sneeze travelled 3.7m. With a hand it travelled 2m. With a tissue it travelled 1m.
To conclude, we can help reduce the spread of infection through sneezing if we use tissues and keep our distance!