Kidney Filtration
A quick demonstration to show how our kidneys work!
What You Need
- Two cups
- 10 beads
- 10 rocks
- 2 scoops of sand
- Fork
- Water
Guide:
Safety Notes
Ensure you are familiar with Let's Talk Science's precautions with respect to safe virtual outreach to youth.
What To Do
- Add all the beads, rocks and sand in one sup and add enough water to cover the beads, rocks and sand. Be careful not to spill anything!
- The cup represents the blood vessel that carries blood to your kidneys.
- The water represents our blood.
- The beads and rocks represents the "good stuff" we want to keep in our bodies.
- The sand represents the "bad stuff" or wastes that we want to get rid of.
- Add a little water to the second cup.
- Carefully, use a fork to take out all the beads from the cup and put them into the second cup. You don't want to take any sand out with the beads.
- The fork represents our nephrons, which are filtering systems in our kidneys.
- The second cup represents the blood vessel that keeps the good stuff in our bodies.
- Use the fork again to take our all the rocks from your cup and put them into the cup with the beads. Look inside the cup. What is left inside?
Discovery
When our heart pumps, our blood is carried through blood vessels to different parts and organs in our body. The kidneys, which are part of the excretory or urinary system, receive a lot of blood. Kidneys filter out wastes (like extra salt and water) from our bodies. There are about 1 million special filters called nephrons inside each kidney. The wastes are filtered through our kidneys, through our ureters and then out our body when we "pee" or urinate. They also filter the "good stuff" from our blood and bring it back to the rest of our body.
Guide:
What's Happening?
When our heart pumps, our blood is carried through blood vessels to different parts and organs in our body. The kidneys, which are part of the excretory or urinary system, receive a lot of blood. Kidneys filter out wastes (like extra salt and water) from our bodies. There are about 1 million special filters called nephrons inside each kidney. The wastes are filtered through our kidneys, through our ureters and then out our body when we "pee" or urinate. They also filter the "good stuff" from our blood and bring it back to the rest of our body.