Science Projects in Culture Growing
Culture growing projects are scientific, and they can also be fun if you enjoy gross results. To grow a culture, it's best to use a prepared Petri dish, or you may prepare your own agar and apply it to the Petri dish for the bacteria to grow on. Any bacteria that touches the Petri dish will then grow until it is easily visible. Culture growing projects are particularly helpful when learning about objects and products that are "clean" (free of most bacteria) or "dirty" (filled with bacteria).
Other People Are Reading
-
The Dirtiest Spot in the House
-
Most people may be unaware of the dirtiest spots in their houses. Guesses might include the toilet seat, the kitchen sink, the front doorknob or the dog's bowl. You can do an experiment to see which of these surfaces contain the most bacteria by growing a culture in a Petri dish. Just use a clean cotton swab to rub each place, and then rub the swab over the agar solution in the Petri dish. Examine each dish over a period of time, and compare the bacteria growth on each of them. Keep one dish as your control, with no bacteria on it at all. This is one science project where the results might surprise you!
Do Hand Sanitizers Really Work?
-
Many people wonder just how effective hand sanitizers are in removing bacteria from your hands. Test this by rubbing a bacteria-infested cotton swab on several Petri dishes (see the previous section for some ideas of bacteria-infested places) and then spraying hand sanitizer on half of them. Observe the bacteria growth over a period of time, and check to see whether the dishes that you sprayed the sanitizer on truly have less bacteria growing on them.
-
Regular Soap vs. Antibacterial Soap
-
A similar science project can show whether hand washing is important, as well as whether antibacterial soaps are actually more beneficial than regular soaps. Have several people swab their fingers and then rub the swab on one Petri dish. Then have half of them wash their hands with antibacterial soap, and half of them wash their hands with regular soap. Instruct them to repeat the same swabbing process with their now clean hands. Observe the differences between each pair of Petri dishes, and evaluate whether the antibacterial soap eliminated more bacteria than the regular soap.
-
