Rhino horns and Chemical Reactions For many years, rhino horn has been used as a traditional medicinal ingredient in some East Asian countries. Users of Rhino horn claim that it relieves symptoms of arthritis, headaches, hallucinations, high blood pressure, and snake bites. Medicines must chemically react within the human body to have a relieving impact.
As this practice of using rhino horn has helped decimate (lower) the rhino population of Africa, scientists ran an experiment to test whether these traditional practices work and react with our bodies. Scientists gathered data on Keratin before and after human ingestion (after came from a stool sample in human feces). Keratin is the major chemical of rhino horn.

Density (g/mL) Melting Point (K) Boiling Point (K) Reactivity with HCl Color Flammability
Keratin before ingestion 1.5 450 575 High White/clear Low to none
Keratin after ingestion 1.5 452 578 high White/clear Low to none

1. What pattern(s) do you see in the data?

2. Identify data that can be used from this table to provide evidence for the scientist’s conclusion.

3. What additional evidence could be considered to support:
a. The claim of rhino horn users?

b. The claim of rhino horn medicine critics (people who criticize it’s use)?