Discover the Heartburn Difference

Heartburn is a big problem in the US, about 60 million people experience it at least once a month. The hypothesis states that at least one average time it takes the solution to reach neutral is different from the others. While experimenting, multiple antacids were tested to see how long it would take to neutralize an artificial stomach acid solution. This artificial stomach acid consists of 450 mL of distilled water, 50 mL of hydrochloric acid (0.1M), and 4.3 g of sodium chloride (0.150M), the pH measures within the range of the acid found in the stomach, 2.6-2.9. The dosage of the antacid listed on the bottle was added to the solution, pH was then measured every 3 minutes using an electronic pH sensor. It was measured until it reached neutralization, which is a pH of 7. The results have shown that not every antacid tested was successful at neutralizing the pH, some remained at 2.6-2.9 the entire time. The successful ones were TUMS, Equate TUMS, Pepto Bismol, and baking soda. After performing an ANOVA statistics test, results showed that there was a significant difference between test subjects. This means the hypothesis is supported, some antacids work faster than others at neutralizing the solution. Overall, baking soda was the fastest with an average of 13 minutes. This shows that a household ingredient works faster than medication to relieve heartburn. Future work includes testing more medications labeled for treating heartburn and household remedies.