Looking for a mummy this Mother’s Day? Try this activity!
Written by Beth Askham
The salt around the apple is an example of a desiccant – it absorbs the moisture in its surroundings, in this case the apple.
Bacteria and mould thrive in moist environments, and drying out the apple prevents bacteria from causing the apple to rot.
Adding a coat of glue helps prevent any moisture from getting inside the apple, and you can keep your shrunken head for archeologists to find in the future.
Salt was one of the ingredients that ancient Egyptians used to make mummies. To mummify a body, Egyptians would remove the brain and all the internal organs after a person had died.
A mixture of natural salts called natron was then stuffed inside and around the body. Natron salts were native to the area, and not unlike today’s bicarb soda.
After days of drying with the desiccant natron, the body was wrapped up with linen soaked in resin. The resin hardened and acted in the same way as the glue by stopping moisture getting inside.
Other easily available desiccants are silica gel packets (the ones labelled ‘do not eat’) and uncooked rice. Why not try the shrunken head experiment using other desiccants to see which is the most effective?
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