Testable

Question:
Which soap product has
the most effect on
eliminating germs on
hands?
 Hypothesis:
If the amount of bacteria
and dirt decrease when I
wash my hands with hand
soap, then it is the most
effective.
 Materials:
• Dove bar soap
• Bath and Body Works Hand Sanitizer
• Simple Pleasures Soap
• Microscope
• Hemocytometer
• Beaker
• Water
• Dirt
• Microscope dish
• Towel/cloth
• Tally machine
• Pipette
 Procedures
1. Fill the beaker with 1000mL of water.
2. Pour 250mL of dirt into the water and mix.
3. Fold the towel and soak it in the dirty water for 7 seconds.
4. Rinse with the desired soap or cleaning method for 30
seconds.
5. Squeeze the water from the towel into a dish.
6. Use a pipette to transfer the water from the dish into the
Hemocytometer to measure the bacteria.
7. Put the Hemocytometer under a microscope at 20x for
object lens and 10x eyepiece.
8. Count the bacteria for the 4 corners of the Hemocytometer
for trial 1.
9. Recount for trial
Repeat for each soap.
 Data Analysis:
I used a Hemocytometer because it was the most efficient way to count
bacteria. To use a Hemocytometer, you put the water or liquid in it and it puts a
graph on the solution. You then count the number of bacteria in each corner the
average them and multiply that by 10000. I did this two times and averaged the
two trials to get the final average. I repeated this process for each method of
cleaning.
Only washing hands with water was the least effective with about 125,500
bacteria. There were lots of dirt particles. Hand sanitizer was next, decreasing
little more bacteria. Hand soap was next being the 2nd most effective. Bar soap is
the most effective where there was barely any bacteria to count. The graph from
the Hemocytometer was almost completely blank. Before even using any method
of cleaning, there were too many to count. It was also difficult to decipher which
was dirt, dead bacteria, or active bacteria. The white, brighter spots were dirt and
the wiggling tiny, black spots were moving bacteria. The amount of bacteria for
just water is about 12 times more than bar soap. It is also 3 times as much as
hand soap.