Name: Period: Blue or Gold 1 2 3 4

“Which antibiotic is better?”

Scenario:
You just synthesized two new and revolutionary antibiotics, and you would like to know which one is better at
killing this deathly strain. Therefore, you acquire a special strain of E. coli bacteria that is resistant to nearly all
types of antibiotics that are currently approved by the FDA. In order to test which new discovery is better at killing
this strain, you run an experiment.

Method/Procedure
1. Streak the special E. coli strain on a culture plate.
2. Set-up 10 identical 10 mL sterilized test tubes, each with 5.0 mL of medium (Luria broth).
3. Inoculate each test tube with one bacterial colony from the culture plate.
4. Label each test tube according to their treatments: antibiotic A and antibiotic B
5. Grow the test tubes at 37o C for 5 hours at 250 rpm.
6. Take a 1.0 mL sample from each test tube and run through the FACS machine and count the number of cells in
each 1.0 mL sample. (cell growth)
7. Repeat the entire procedure (steps 2-6) twice more to assess the variability between trials.
8. Record the results in the spaces called Trial 2 and Trial 3 of the results table.

Questions:
1. Create an illustration of this experiment. (i.e. test tubes properly labeled)

2. Identify the variables by 1) circling the independent variable, 2) boxing the dependent variable, and 3)
underlining the controlled variables (aka constants).
3. There is one variable that is difficult to control so it is just monitored. What is it? temperature
4. In steps 2 & 6, note to what precision (decimal place) the variables are measured. Write a sentence explaining
why you think the data was recorded at that precision. What determines the level of precision you should
record data?
tenth (0.1)
the instrument’s (pipette) precision was to the tenth
instrument

5. What would be the uncertainty you will use when recording your cell count data? +/- 1 cell
6. Is this DESIGN a 5 x 5 design or a T-test? No
a. Why or why not? It is close to a T-test, but not exactly as it should be…
 b. What would you do to make this a properly designed IB experiment? If you had 10 replicates for each
antibiotic.
If you feel you need more practice…complete these “experiments.”

SpongeBob Clean Pants

SpongeBob noticed that his favorite pants were not as clean as they used to be. His friend Sandy told him
that he should try using Clean-O detergent, a new laundry soap she found at Sail-Mart. SpongeBob made
sure to wash one pair of pants in plain water and another pair of pants in water with the Clean-O
detergent. After washing both pairs of pants a total of three times, the pants washed in the Clean-O
detergent did not appear to be any cleaner than the pants washed in plain water.

1. What is the independent variable? clean-O detergent

2. What is the dependent variable? how clean the pants get
3. What is the control group? pants washed in plain water

Squidward’s Symphony
Squidward loves playing his clarinet and believes it attracts more jellyfish than any other instrument he
has played. In order to test his hypothesis, Squidward played a song on his clarinet for a total of 5 minutes
and counted the number of jellyfish he saw in his front yard. He played the song a total of 3 times on his
clarinet and repeated the experiment using a flute and a guitar. He also recorded the number of jellyfish he
observed when he was not playing an instrument.

1. What is the independent variable? clarinet

2. What is the dependent variable? jellyfish

Super Bubbles
Patrick and SpongeBob love to blow bubbles! Patrick found some Super Bubble Soap at Sail-Mart. The
ads claim that Super Bubble Soap will produce bubbles that are twice as big as bubbles made with regular
bubble soap. Patrick and SpongeBob made up two samples of bubble solution. One sample was made
with 5 oz. of Super Bubble Soap and 5 oz. of water, while the other was made with the same amount and
type of water and 5 oz. of regular bubble soap. Patrick and SpongeBob used their favorite bubble wands
to blow 10 different bubbles.

1. What is the independent variable? super bubble soap

2. What is the dependent variable? bubble size
3. What is the control group? the sample with water and REGULAR bubble soap
4. Identify one constant. amount & type of water added to each sample