In our topic (Ancient Egypt) we have been learning all about Tutankhamun (one of Egypt's most famous pharoahs and mummies)! We became very intrigued by the mummifying process and why the Ancient Egyptian's mummifed important people. We learnt that the Ancient Egyptian's mummified people so that they would look beautiful for the Afterlife. We decided to test this theory and do some mummifying of our own...on tomatoes. 

• We cut a small hole in a tomato and carefully spooned out all the pulp and seeds (this was a very messy job). 
• Then rubbed the tomato with anti-bactierial gel to kill any bacteria on the tomato that may cause mould.
• Next, we made a mixture of salts to mirror the Natron salts the Egyptians would have used to dry out the bodies. We made this with 4 teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda and 1 teaspoon of table salt. We rubbed this mixture inside and outside of the tomato.
• Finally we left our mummified tomatoes and a un-mummifed tomato in a dry and airy place.

One week after we mummified the tomatoes, we observed the changes that had happened.

After one week of our classroom smelling of tomatoes we decided to hold our noses and go investigate if any changes had occured.Some of the children thought the mummified tomatoes looked much more wrinkly and shrivelled. We also decided the mummified tomatoes looked smaller than before and much more dried out. Some children said that the tomatoes looked dried out because all the salts had pulled the liquid out. When we looked at the un-mummified tomatoe we saw no changes. What changes can you see?
Year 4 are very exicted to see what the tomatoes will look like when we return to school after half term.