BACTERIA EXPERIMENT

301

We have been studying Microorganisms in class. At the

beginning of the investigation we knew that bacteria are
microorganisms and they can stick and spread on different things
depending on their characteristics. Our goal of this investigation was
to discover how dirty door handles actually are, regardless of their
amount of use, temp., and other factors. Our guiding question was:
Does the amount of use of door handles (low, med, high) affect the
number of bacteria colonies?

We collected data about how much bacteria is on metal door

handles. Before swabbing, we washed our hands and put on gloves.
Then we needed to get a ziploc bag, an agar plate, q tips, and an
eyedropper. After that, we labeled the agar plate and put the q tips in
the ziploc bag. During swabbing, we swabbed the door handle by
swabbing it horizontally, and then we flipped the q tip and swabbed it
diagonally. We swabbed Mrs. Lasser’s closet (Least used with 28
bacteria colonies), Mr. Blumer’s door (Middle with 34 bacteria
colonies), Mr. Eich’s door (Middle with 27 bacteria colonies), and the
front door ( Most used with 17 bacteria colonies). Finally, after
swabbing, we closed the agar plate by taping it on the circumference.
We put our team color, core number, and our names on it so we knew
it was ours. After the long weekend, we analyzed the data after it
came out of the incubator. We used a sharpie and counted how many
dots(colonies) each door handle had. We saw that Mr. Blumer’s door
had the most bacteria with 34 bacteria colonies. We were all
confused because not only that, the front door, which is the most
used turned out to have the least amount of bacteria with only 17
bacteria colonies. We observed other things about the bacteria also.
One thing we noticed was that all the bacteria from all four door
handles were very similar. All the bacteria were in a circular form.
This means that they were mostly in dots and circles. The elevation
for all of them was raised. this means the bacteria was slightly
elevated and curved. Three of the four door handles didn't have a
margin, except Mrs. Lasser’s closet because one of the bacteria
colonies had something coming out of it, but it is a curve so it looked
like the margin was entire. We began to think of why our experiment
turned out how it did. After including all the factors, we made an
inference that temperature made a difference.
 Lastly, we made a claim. Our claim is that the amount of use of
a door handle doesn't effect the amount of bacteria at the end of the
experiment, but temperature does. The evidence supporting this is
that the front door handle, the one we thought was most used,
actually had the least amount of bacteria. We think this is because it
was exposed to the cold temperature. That's why we think this door
had only 17 colonies. Also, the closet, which we believed had been
used the least, had the second most amount of bacteria with 28
colonies. We think this is because the handle was at room
temperature which is the amount bacteria grows well at. To justify
this, 2017ctepper.weebly.com says that N George’s conclusion states
that if you ever buy something cold, you should refrigerate it because
bacteria takes longer to grow and reproduce in the cold, compared to
room temp, in which bacteria would have normal growth rate and
reproduction rate. The ideal temp for bacteria to grow is 40-140
degrees fahrenheit and the approximate temperature of the front
door was 37. Mr. Blumer’s door handle was 75 degrees fahrenheit,
Mr. Eich’s door handle was 74.2 degrees fahrenheit, and Mrs.
Lasser’s closet handle was 74.8 degrees fahrenheit. This proves that
the temperature affects the bacteria because the front door wasn't in
the range of temperature that bacteria grows in, and Mr Blumer’s
door had the most bacteria and the highest temperature and the
other two door handles also work the same way.

In conclusion, our experiment about the amount of use may

have affected the amount of bacteria colonies, but temperature
definitely affects the amount of bacteria at the end of the
experiment. In this case, our claim turned out to be correct and the
front door had less bacteria because bacteria doesn't grow properly
in the cold temperature.
Lasser Closet 6 Blumer 6 Eich Front Door

28 34 27 17

Graph - Missing 3 or more requirements - Missing 1 or 2 requirements - A title explaining the

7.1.3.4.2 from the Meets Expectations from the Meets Expectations experiment
column column - Student has chosen an
(2) appropriate type of
(1)
graph
- Clearly labeled axes
- Correctly labeled
units
 - Key included (3)

Analysis - Explanation(s) are - Explanation(s) are - Accurate and detailed explanations based on
7.1.1.2.3 not supported by partially supported by trends in the data. The claim is justified with
evidence trends in the data facts about bacterial survival.
- Explanation(s) (3)
- Explanation(s) do
partially explain trends Level 4 work:
not explain trends or - Can identify holes in your claim/argument
or patterns in the data
patterns in the data *Teacher discretion*
(2)
(1)