Investigation –design guidelines:

• Problem or question for investigation

what is the effect of UV irradiation on bacteria colonies?

• Hypothesis
the more its under the light ,the less bacterias will occur.

• Variables

Type of variable What’s manipulated Rationale How to manipulate

Independent Time in seconds We control the time for To understand di erent

which bacteria is under e ects ,we could use
the UV exposure box the clock to set the
timer
Dependent The number of bacteria When it is in the UV We count one by one
box, the number of the bacteria to know
bacteria changes the in uence of uv light
box.
Controlled Sizes of plates, They never change Using exact same
temperature, uv during the experiment things when repeating
exposure unless we do it. the experiment

• Materials – List all the materials and equipment you will use.
Quantity Materials/equipment Description

7 Test tubes For every UV irradiation we need

di erent tubes

14 Petri dishes We need two plates ,control and

antibiotic ,to put them in the UV
box

1 Incubator It controls the temperature ,which

gives the best temperature for
growing

1 UV box By using UV irradiation ,we can

know the amount of bacterial
colonies

1 Timer To know the exact time for every

experiment

• Method/Procedure - Click on the ‘Procedure’ button to read the

simulation procedure. Complete the lab as shown in the procedure
ow chart below and record your data.
1. To start the experiment ,we need to choose UV time.
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 2. After irradiation ,we are clicking on the tube with the suspension and put in on the plate.

3. After we put the bacteria on plate, we need to press on the incubator to incubate the
variables.

4.After that, we press on the plates to see bacterial colonies ,we need to count all of them and
record the result we get.

5. We press “restart simulation” to start new experiment.

• Control group
Plates with bacteria being irradiated ,therefore without antibiotics.
• Special conditions
The bacteria should be incubated for 24 hours at 37 degrees.

• Safety, ethical and environmental concerns

The rst important thing to consider is how to properly dispose of the lab supplies that were
utilised for the test. Certain materials must be disposed of in containers that are speci cally
made for that purpose; they cannot be disposed of in regular trash cans. Additionally, we had
to meticulously wash every piece of equipment we used for the experiment.Wearing safety
glasses or goggles to protect our eyes from damage, lab coats to protect our skin and clothes,
and gloves to prevent chemicals and other materials from getting on our hands are all
required when working on an experiment.It is crucial to consider cultural and religious
sensitivities about the use of living beings in experiments. For scienti c reasons, we decided
to use bacteria rather than living things because of this. This aligns with the ethical
guidelines for carrying out research.

• Data:
for control plate

Trials 0s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s

1 103 102 68 42 15 0 0

2 126 101 65 33 13 0 0

3 145 125 76 40 10 1 0

4 110 100 70 35 9 2 0

For antibiotic plate:

Trials 0s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s

1 0 2 8 7 17 2 0
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Trials 0s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s

2 0 1 5 9 10 2 0

3 0 1 6 14 14 1 0

4 0 1 7 5 16 0 0

• Average of the data:

Control plate

0s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s

119 108.34 68.75 38 11.75 0.75 0

For antibiotic plate

0s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s

0 1.25 6.75 8.75 14.25 1.5 0

• Graphs
Effect of irradiation on bacteria:

control plate antibiotic

120

90

60

30

0
0 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s
• Discussion
The graph above shows that relationship in control plate between the time of irradiation,
which is the independent variable, and the number of bacterial colonies that will be
formed after irradiation, which is the dependent variable. Based on it, we can conclude
that as the time spent by the tube with bacteria in the incubator increases, the number of
colonies formed decreases.

The relationship in antibiotic plate between the dependent variable, the number of
bacterial colonies that will form following the addition of antibiotics and after irradiation,
and the independent variable, the time of irradiation, is depicted in the above graph. The
graph illustrates how the number of colonies grew over time, stopping short of the 40s
irradiation threshold.
Following the 40s irradiation, fewer colonies will exist. There won't be any colonies when
the radiation takes 60 years to complete.

• How UV radiators can cause mutation?

A mutation is a change in an organism's DNA sequence. They constantly occur in our
cells, yet they typically have no negative e ects on our health. Gremlin and somatic
mutations are the two di erent kinds. When somatic mutations take place in cells such as
muscles or skin, they can pass on to the next generation through gametes. The gremlin
mutation only a ects the original cell or cells that proliferate from it.
UV radiation is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that falls between 200 and
400 nm. Because most radiation between 300 mm and 400 nm is blocked by the human
lens, UV radiation is not immediately visible to human eyes.
The four di erent types of nucleotides found in cells are adenine, thymine, guanine, and
cytosine. The DNA's nucleotide bonding is impacted when cells are exposed to UVB
radiation. Since DNA is the main chromophore in cells and absorbs solar radiation,
exposure to UV light can harm genomic DNA in di erent ways depending on the exposure
wavelength and duration. Cells do, however, have e cient repair mechanisms to undo
such harm. Bacteria's rate of mutation can be accelerated by UV exposure. If thymine
dimer formation is not corrected, mistakes may be introduced during DNA replication.
Through processes like nucleotide excision repair, the cell may attempt to repair the
damage; however, this process is not always error-free and can result in mutations.

• Conclusion
An experiment demonstrates the detrimental e ects of UV light on bacterial colonies and
their ability to survive. One important component has been shown to be the bacteria's
exposure to UV radiation.
The amount of bacteria colonies that survive depends on how long they are exposed to
UV radiation.
But the experiment also showed that the antibiotic added to samples will shield the
bacteria from damaging UV radiation up to a certain degree (until the irradiation time lasts
longer than 40s). The bacterial colonies will be able to multiply and proliferate in the
antibiotic-treated samples. However, like with the samples, bacterial colonies will perish
after exposure to UV light longer than 40 seconds.
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 • Evaluation and improvements
Limitation of the method Suggestion on improving

The dots of bacteria were on top of each other, Zooming in and predicting the number
which made it harder to count

Time wasn’t accurate ,since pressing stop and start Using a robotic timer ,so it would automatically
would take time. start

Getting di erent results from each trial and Increase the number of trials.
sometimes it has a big di erence

• Sources
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21436607/
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1011134401001993
• https://www.biologysimulations.com/mutation
•
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