Bacteria Lab
Part 1:
Purpose
The purpose of this lab is to Grow bacteria on Agar plates.
Hypothesis
I predict that if I swab the area's of the school that are the dirtiest and grossest, then I will have a greater chance of growing the most bacteria.
Method
The materials used for this lab are:
- Agar Plate
- Cotton swab
- Bacteria
- Incubator
Results
Above is a drawing of Bacteria Growth.
Analysis
A- Out facing side of the bathroom door
B- Railing up the stairs near the gymnasium
C- Librarian's Key board
D- Loose Change
B- Railing up the stairs near the gymnasium
C- Librarian's Key board
D- Loose Change
Conclusion
In my experiment I found that the Librarians Key Board grew the most Bacteria. This disproves my hypothesis because the places I would expect to be the dirtied aren't always the most bacteria ridden.
Possible issues with this experiment could have been dust particles or breathing over the agar plates. I tried to prevent this by having the Agar plates open as little as possible and holding my breath while spreading the bacteria on the plates.
In a future experiment I would like to look at food, to examine which types of food hold the most bacteria.
Possible issues with this experiment could have been dust particles or breathing over the agar plates. I tried to prevent this by having the Agar plates open as little as possible and holding my breath while spreading the bacteria on the plates.
In a future experiment I would like to look at food, to examine which types of food hold the most bacteria.
Part 2:
Purpose
The purpose of this lab activity is to test the effectiveness of various household cleaning products or soaps for their antibacterial ability.
Results
Above is a Drawing of the Bacterial Plate after cleaning products were added.
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Above is a picture of the Bacterial plate after cleaning products were added.
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Effectiveness of Cleaning Products on Bacteria Table
Analysis Lab Q&A
1. Q: Describe the appearance of your plates after the incubation time. How can you tell if your bacteria were spread evenly or not?
A: After the incubation time it was obvious that the bacteria was spread evenly because there were no gaps where the bacteria stops.
2. Q:What is the purpose of the Agar plate? Could you do this experiment without the Agar? Without the incubator?
A: The purpose of the Agar plate is to act as a medium for the bacteria to easily grow on. The incubator is used to speed up the bacteria growth process. Yes you could do this experiment without the Agar plates and the Incubator but it would take an extremely long time and results would not be as dramatic. But the bacteria would still need something to feed on. The results would differ because it is essential for certain bacteria to grow in specific temperatures and environments.
3. Q:Which cleaner was the most effective against the bacterial growth and how do you know? Does this mean that this cleaning product would work the best against all bacteria?
A: The Windex was the most effective against bacterial growth, I know this because it had the largest zone of inhibition. The Windex may not produce these results with all types of bacteria because if we were to test another type of bacteria that had immunity to it, then it would survive. It would be impossible for a Biology 11 Class to test for every type of bacteria that has ever existed.
4. Q: Which cleaning product did the worst job at killing bacteria and how do you know? Did this surprise you? Explain.
A: The cleaning product that did the worst job of killing bacteria was the Bleach. It had the smallest zone of inhibition. This surprised me because I know that Bleach is chosen world wide to kill bacteria in public places.
5. Q:Describe your experimental control and why it is important to the outcome of this experiment.
A: The control is essential for this experiment to know if any Bacteria grew in the first place. Otherwise with no Bacteria, all cleaning products involved would be 100% effective.
6. Q: Describe any sources of error in your experiment and how you could improve your results.
A: Possible errors with this experiment could have been dust particles or adding extra bacteria by breathing over the agar plates. I tried to prevent this by having the Agar plates open as little as possible and holding my breath while spreading the bacteria on the plates.
7. Q: Some types of bacteria can become resistant to cleaning products and antibiotics. Using what you know about Natural Selection, explain how this can happen.
A: Bacteria can build up resistance causing an immunity against antibiotics. When one bacteria becomes immune it sends that genetic information that contains the immunity to the other bacteria cells. This relates to the theory of natural selection because bacteria that contains the immunity will survive and the bacteria without the immunity will die. Survival of the fittest.
8. Q: What surfaces seemed to have the most bacteria on them?
A: The surfaces with the most bacteria on them that I recorded was the Librarians Keyboard, and Out-side of the Bathroom Door.
A: After the incubation time it was obvious that the bacteria was spread evenly because there were no gaps where the bacteria stops.
2. Q:What is the purpose of the Agar plate? Could you do this experiment without the Agar? Without the incubator?
A: The purpose of the Agar plate is to act as a medium for the bacteria to easily grow on. The incubator is used to speed up the bacteria growth process. Yes you could do this experiment without the Agar plates and the Incubator but it would take an extremely long time and results would not be as dramatic. But the bacteria would still need something to feed on. The results would differ because it is essential for certain bacteria to grow in specific temperatures and environments.
3. Q:Which cleaner was the most effective against the bacterial growth and how do you know? Does this mean that this cleaning product would work the best against all bacteria?
A: The Windex was the most effective against bacterial growth, I know this because it had the largest zone of inhibition. The Windex may not produce these results with all types of bacteria because if we were to test another type of bacteria that had immunity to it, then it would survive. It would be impossible for a Biology 11 Class to test for every type of bacteria that has ever existed.
4. Q: Which cleaning product did the worst job at killing bacteria and how do you know? Did this surprise you? Explain.
A: The cleaning product that did the worst job of killing bacteria was the Bleach. It had the smallest zone of inhibition. This surprised me because I know that Bleach is chosen world wide to kill bacteria in public places.
5. Q:Describe your experimental control and why it is important to the outcome of this experiment.
A: The control is essential for this experiment to know if any Bacteria grew in the first place. Otherwise with no Bacteria, all cleaning products involved would be 100% effective.
6. Q: Describe any sources of error in your experiment and how you could improve your results.
A: Possible errors with this experiment could have been dust particles or adding extra bacteria by breathing over the agar plates. I tried to prevent this by having the Agar plates open as little as possible and holding my breath while spreading the bacteria on the plates.
7. Q: Some types of bacteria can become resistant to cleaning products and antibiotics. Using what you know about Natural Selection, explain how this can happen.
A: Bacteria can build up resistance causing an immunity against antibiotics. When one bacteria becomes immune it sends that genetic information that contains the immunity to the other bacteria cells. This relates to the theory of natural selection because bacteria that contains the immunity will survive and the bacteria without the immunity will die. Survival of the fittest.
8. Q: What surfaces seemed to have the most bacteria on them?
A: The surfaces with the most bacteria on them that I recorded was the Librarians Keyboard, and Out-side of the Bathroom Door.