Science 23

The stomach produces hydrochloric acid as a means of killing bacteria that may enter the body with food. Magnesium hydroxide is a compound found in antacids, medicines used to neutralize stomach acid. The amount of acid neutralized by 3 different brands of antacids are shown in Table 1.

The scientists diagrammed the enzymatic (chemical) activity of the three antacids. The hydrochloric acid is represented by the lighter circles; the magnesium hydroxide is represented by the darker circles, as shown in Figure 1.