Spicy Peppers and Milk

Description of Event:

Humans eating spicy peppers and the ensuing sensations they experience.

Depending on scope of a potential unit/transfer task/engineering problem: may or may not include the sensation being magnified with water and relieved when drinking milk.

Essential Question(s): 

• Why does a spicy pepper cause a burning sensation?
• Why does water not provide relief, but milk does? Or, why does milk provide some relief to the burning sensation?

Stimuli: How will students experience and/or observe the phenomenon/problem?

Experience with tasting a spicy pepper and trying different liquids (or solids) to ease the burning sensation. Specifically, a picture of the table from a Hot Ones episode showing the water and milk on the table.