Chemists: Should you chew or swallow indigestion tablets? Practical

Practical - chewed tablets vs. whole tablets

Equipment - 4 small beakers and 4 Quik Eze stomach indigestion tablets


Method:
Use 60ml of water and wait for it to dissolve completely. Record the times.
1. Use a whole tablet in the water beaker.
2. Using a whole tablet, cut it in half and put both pieces into the water beaker.
3. Cut one tablet into quarters and put all pieces into the water beaker.
4. Crush one tablet and add all of it to water.

Results

Time it took for each tablet to dissolve:

Whole tablet time: Over 15 mins
Halved tablet time:  About 10 mins
Quartered tablet: About 7 minutes
Crushed tablet: N/A (Natasha spilt a beaker)

Discussion:

Why should a Quik Eze tablet be chewed rather than swallowed?
Answer: We found when the tablet had been crushed, it dissolved in hot water much faster than the quartered, halved, and whole tablets. This lead us to believe that a QuikEze tablet should be chewed and crushed rather than swallowed whole, quartered, or halved. This is because crushed tablets achieved the fastest results; they dissolved quicker and will do the same in stomach acid. To summarise, a tablet should be chewed rather than swallowed because of the faster reaction time.

Teacher's explanation:

A whole tablet takes longer to dissolve as it has a larger area to dissolve. It would take a while for the middle of the tablet to dissolve. Smaller tablets, however, are able to dissolve faster as it takes less time for the acid to reach the middle of the small pieces.