The Bacteria Around You and the 01

Effects of Antiseptics

The Bacteria Around you and the Effects of Antiseptics

James Pinard

SBI3U

Ms. Devlin

Oct 26th, 2022

The Bacteria Around You and the 02
Effects of Antiseptics

Introduction:

The purpose of this lab was to see the growth of bacteria and how it reacts to antiseptics.
Bacteria are single cell organisms that exist almost anywhere. Bacteria, like any other living thing, need
to obtain nutrients to survive and multiply. Bacteria can multiply through Binary Fission, Conjugation
and spore formation. Binary Fission is when the cell makes a copy of its DNA and forms a wall between
both sets of DNA then they split into two cells. Conjugation is when one of the cells gives a copy of a
plasmid to another cell. The final form of reproduction is spore formation which is when bacteria release
a copy of its DNA through spores (Ms. Devlin, 2022). The purpose of this lab was to see the growth of
bacteria and how it reacts to antiseptics. The hypothesis was that the bacteria would grow until there
was no more food and that the bacteria that had antiseptics would struggle to grow as fast.

Methods:

Please refer to “The Bacteria Around You and the Effects of Antiseptics” Lab experiment outline
detailing the materials used. No changes were made.

For the procedure, please refer to “The Bacteria Around You and the Effects of Antiseptics” Lab
experiment outline.

Note the following changes: Instead of swabbing only one area for part B four separate areas were
swabbed.

Results:

During the experiment it was found that the bacteria in the first petri dish was growing all throughout
the petri dish. In the second petri dish it was found that the bacteria were unable to grow near the
antiseptic. This was best seen in section A which had its bacteria sourced from Fogels chair and had
Alcohol as an antiseptic and from section D which had its bacteria sourced from Blake and had hand
sanitizer as an antiseptic.

Table 1 no antiseptics

Source of Bacteria Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

Max Bolden The bacteria formed The irregular shape of The irregular shape
into a large smooth the bacteria grew and grew and there were
and irregular shape as there were less round fewer round shapes
well as a few round and and punctiform shapes. there were also some
punctiform shapes. orange bacteria.
Leg Lift The bacteria formed The irregular shape of The irregular shape
into a smaller smooth the bacteria grew, and grew and there were
and irregular shape the round shapes also almost no round
The Bacteria Around You and the 03
Effects of Antiseptics

with more round grew. bacteria left. There

shapes. were also some black
shapes, but it was likely
mold.
Hayden Fitzgerald The bacteria formed The round shapes of The round shapes of
into a bunch of smooth the bacteria grew. the bacteria continued
round and punctiform to grow.
shapes.
Wood Shop Button The bacteria formed The round shapes of Round shapes of the
into a few smooth the bacteria grew, and bacteria grew, and
round and punctiform a small part of the some irregular shapes
shapes. bacteria had an orange also started to appear
colour. the orange bacteria
also grew.

Table 2 Antiseptics

Source of bacteria Antiseptic Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

Fogels Chair Alcohol The bacteria The bacteria The bacteria
formed into small, continued to grew, some
smooth, irregular, grow, and the orange bacteria
round, and zone of inhibition appeared, and the
punctiform shrunk. zone of inhibition
shapes. There was was gone.
also a small zone
of inhibition.
Ms. Graveline Listerine The bacteria The bacteria The bacteria
formed into continued to grew.
curled irregular grow, and more
and punctiform smooth round
shapes as well as shapes appeared.
a small smooth
irregular shape
and round
smooth shape.
There was no
visible zone of
inhibition.
Blake Hand sanitizer The bacteria The bacteria grew The bacteria grew
formed into less than the a lot, some yellow
smooth round other samples bacteria
shapes. There was and the zone of appeared, and the
a large area of inhibition shrunk zone of inhibition
inhibition. very little. shrunk a lot.
Water fountain Water The bacteria The bacteria The bacteria
formed into a continued to grew.
wrinkled irregular grow, and the
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Effects of Antiseptics

shape. There was originally wrinkled

no zone of shape became
inhibition smooth

Discussion:

The purpose of this lab is to see how bacteria grows and how antiseptics affect growth. The lab ended
before the bacteria ran out of food so there is no way to prove that part of the hypothesis but the
growth of the bacteria with antiseptics backs the other part of the hypothesis. The antiseptics were able
to slow the growth of the bacteria it interacted with but the bacteria without antiseptics was able to
grow freely and quickly. This means that antiseptics can be used to prevent bacteria from spreading.
This experiment could be improved by using more samples and different types and amounts of
antiseptics. For future experiments it would be good to only use one type of bacteria for all the
antiseptics. It also would have been interesting to see how the bacteria would have grown if given more
days.

Conclusion:

The hypothesis was supported by the fact that the bacteria with antiseptics grew less than the bacteria
that had no antiseptics. This lab showed how bacteria grows and how it is hindered by antiseptics. This
lab also showed how some antiseptics are stronger than others E.g. The bacteria with the hand sanitizer
had a zone of inhibition for all 3 days while the bacteria with Listerine had no zone of inhibition.