Circulatory and Immune Systems

By Taylor Farmer, Andrew Roos, and Emma Robertson

Our Original Model Plan Drawing:
Our New and Current Model Drawing- Circulatory
Our New and Current Model- Immune
 Description of Model
We have a cup with red dyed water to represent blood, and a pump with a tube attached, going into a
separate cup and a balloon on the end. The balloon has holes punched in the bottom and each time we
present our model, we drop blue food coloring into the balloon. Then, we turn on the pump, and it
circulates the red water through the tube and balloon. The balloon represents a muscle tissue, and in real
life the oxygenated blood goes through the tissues in the body, drops off oxygen, and leaves the tissue
without oxygen, so it travels back to the heart for more. In the model, the water goes through the balloon,
and due to the blue food coloring dropped in, changes color, representing the change to oxygen-free
blood when it exits the muscle tissue. Then, we have a close-up of the blood, where B-cells from the
immune system, which are proteins that make antibodies, which fight disease. We have semi-permeable
tubing filled with a glucose solution in a cup of regular water. Slowly, the glucose diffuses out of the tube
into the water and we prove this with glucose test strips that detect the glucose in the water and change
color, representing the B-cells releasing antibodies into the blood.
 Materials We Used
Clear tubes
Red and blue food coloring and water
Balloon with holes in bottom
Funnel
Three large cups
Semi-permeable tubing
Glucose solution
Glucose detecting color changing test strips
Pump, with changeable settings
String to tie balloon to tube
Wood
Red and blue paint
Sharpie
Construction Record
We begin with a plan using the drawing below
We find that we must model how the circulatory brings oxygen to tissues and goes back to the heart without oxygen
and the immune system must show B-cells releasing antibodies to fight disease
We use a pump on the lowest setting and attach a clear tube, and circulate red water through and into a cup
We attach a balloon to the end of the tube and punch holes in it to show the tissue
Then we add blue food coloring into the balloon to represent the change of the bloods oxygen content when exiting
the tissue
We use an Alka-Seltzer in water to represent and simulate the B-cell releasing antibodies, when it fizzes and
releases bubbles
We use the semi-permeable tubing and fill it with a sugar-water solution and put it into a cup of water and wait for the
sugar to diffuse out into the cup
We test the water, and find it is not a strong enough solution to detect, so we fill the tube with a stronger glucose
solution instead
This represents the B-cell releasing antibodies
In the end, we have everything on a piece of wood and labeled