Do+disinfectant+wipes+kill+bacteria+and+which+brand+of+wipes+is+the+best?


 * Title:** Do Disinfecting Wipes Kill Bacteria?Lauren Martel and Angela Jaszarowski

The expirement is to see if disinfectant wipes really do kill bacteria on different surfaces. If they don't, then we may need to find an alternative way to clean off our everyday surfaces. For example, desks, keyboard, etc. This it to see how everyday surfaces can grow so much bacteria and if the common disinfectant wipes can really clean them off. People could really be surprised about the results we have found. This experiment is being conducted to see what is the best type of cleaning wipe on different surfaces. “...and they might even spread, rather than kill bacteria” (Collins 2008). We want to know if disinfectant wipes actually get rid of bacteria. We are going to test a surface to see how much bacteria is on it. Then we will wipe the surface down with a disinfectant wipe and test it again, to see how much bacteria was killed. “Bacteria are single-cell microorganisms that exist everywhere and reproduce quickly. Some kinds of bacteria are harmless, while other types cause disease and sickness” (Solis 2012). We want to do this experiment, so that we can get an idea of what disinfecting wipes work the best.
 * Purpose: **

Bacteria have been on the Earth for millions of years. Bacteria wasn't dicovered until the late 1600s, acctually by accident. Anton van Leeuwenhoek accidentally noticed them while looking at scrapings from his teeth through a very simple microscope. When he saw them he did not know what they where, but he was essentially the first person to see bacteria. (Bacteria 2011). Bacteria are prokarotic cells. This means that they are single-celled and don't have a nucleus. They are very tiny compared to other cells and they grow in groups called kingdoms.

Bacteria need food, warmth, time, and moisture to grow. Bacteria can grow in varying temperatures. A bacteria called, Psychrophiles, grow at low temperatures usually below 20°C. The kind of bacteria that grow at high temperatures are called thermophiles, which usually grow at temperatures above 45°C (Bacteria Growth Requirements). So what this means is that Psychropiles grow below 68 degrees Fahrenheit and Thermophiles grow above 113 degrees Fahrenheit. It takes around 4-6 days for bacteria to grow properly. (Growing Bacteria 2011). We will grow our bacteria for a week before testing it. Bacteria reproduce by binary fission. (Bacteria 2010). In binary fission, the cell divides into two identical daughter cells. It begins when the DNA of the bacterium divides into two .The bacterial cell then gets longer and splits into two daughter cells each with identical DNA to the parent cell. Each daughter cell is a clone of the parent cell. (Growing Bacteria 2011). So with the following information, we believe that disinfecting wipes will get rid of some of the bacteria growing on a surface.

We plan on taking two everyday surfaces (a desk and a door handle) and test the amount of bacteria on them. Then we would wipe these surfaces with a wet wipe (using three different brands) and then test the amount of bacteria on them. We would grow the bacteria from before and after cleaning for 1-1 1/2 weeks to see if there is less bacteria on the surface after we cleaned them. This experiment could show what cleaning wipe should be used because it would get rid of the most bacteria. We could also see how much bacteria is on regular everyday surfaces and make sure that we are doing more to keep them clean. Explain more on why you chose this topic and why you want to do it. (Kylie Ashton) How long will you let the bacteria grow before you record the samples? (Molly Gilles) Explain more about the cited information. (Peters) 1/10/13 How will you measure the amount of bacteria? (Applegren) 1/10/13
 * Hypothesis: ** If we wipe down a surface with a disinfecting wipe, then it will kill 80 percent of the bacteria growing on that surface.


 * Materials: ** The materials we will need are as follows:
 * 12 petri dishes
 * clorox disinfecting wipes
 * lysol disinfecting wipes
 * scotch-brite disinfecting wipes
 * Masking tape (for labels)
 * cotton swabs to test surface
 * agar for bacteria to grow (Growing Bacteria 2012)
 * 0.5 cm grid paper

We are going to to grow bacteria from 2 different surfaces; a desk and a door handle. We will grow the bacteria for a week on each of these surfaces. To grow the bacteria, all we need to do is put agar powder into a beaker of distilled water and mix it together. Then we need to heat it to a boil in a microwave or over a Bunsen burner. After it reaches a boil, we pour it into a petri dish. Then we poured enough so it covers the bottom, but didn't make it to thick. We let it sit for about a day and a half, or until it became solid, before we opened up the petri dish. To test the surfaces, we taped sections on a desk (1,2,3). We then took a sterile swab and wipes around in one of the sections. We opened up a petri dish and rubbed the same swab on the non control side, then we immediately closed the dish. We wiped down the same section with a disinfectant wipe, let it dry, then took a new sterilized swab and rubbed the newly cleaned section of the desk. We took another petri dish and swabbed the non control side of the perti dish. We did the same for the other sections, but used different brands of wipes every time. We repeated this process again on a door handle, completing the same steps as the desk. After about a week of letting the petri dishes sit, we checked the petri dishes daily, to see how many colonies have grown in that amount of time. After data was collected we compared the non disinfectant to the disinfectant petri dishes and recorded our data in a data table and made a graph representing each one.
 * Experiment: **


 * Data: **
 * BACTERIA GROWTH**
 * **Surface** ||  **How Much Bacteria Grew**  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * || Date ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * || 2-24 || 2-25 || 2-27 || 2-28 || 3-4 ||
 * Desk ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 1A || 0 || 5 || 7 || 8 || 9 ||
 * 1B || 0 || 2 || 4 || 4 || 5 ||
 * 2A || 0 || 6 || 10 || 11 || 11.5 ||
 * 2B || 0 || 5 || 6 || 9 || 10 ||
 * 3A || 0 || 1.5 || 3 || 3.5 || 4.5 ||
 * 3B || 0 || 4 || 11 || 11.5 || 13 ||
 * Door Handle ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 1A || 0 || 10 || 11 || 12 || 14 ||
 * 1B || 0 || 25 || 26 || 28 || 30 ||
 * 2A || 0 || 4 || 8 || 9 || 11 ||
 * 2B || 0 || 5 || 10 || 11 || 13 ||
 * 3A || 0 || 14 || 18 || 19 || 20 ||
 * 3B || 0 || 4 || 10 || 14 || 20 ||




 * Analysis: ** The data shows that in some cases more bacteria grew after being cleaned with a wet wipe. And it is not one brand in particular that this occurred. This occurred for all of the brands on the door handle surface. The door handle grew the most bacteria out of the two surfaces which was expected because it is one of the most touched objects in any building because of all the people going in and out of rooms each day. It was surprising though to not see a lot of bacteria growing on a desk because they are used so often and by so many different people throughout the day. Also, since it was a desk in the back row in the corner, it may not be used very often, which means that there wouldn't be much bacteria growing on it then The desk could have also been cleaned recently cleaned by someone else, or not be used often in the classroom


 * Conclusion: ** We can't make the conclusion that one brand gets rid of bacteria after cleaning a surface better than any other. We also can't conclude that a disinfecting wipe gets rid of bacteria due to the fact that some petri dishes grew more bacteria after being cleaned with a disinfecting wipe. We can conclude that some bacteria was killed during this experiment we just can't say which brand is better to use over the other. With further tests you could find if the bacteria that grew was different and if it would not harm you like the bacteria before cleaning may have done.


 * Limitations: ** Some of the limitations we faced were that the cleaning swabs we used were exposed to the air after wiping a surface and that could be a reason why there were some escalated numbers of bacteria. Also the petri dishes could have been exposed to air that could have carried bacteria that could have grown. Another thing that could have gone wrong was that while making the agar, it could have been contaminated by the stirring rod and beaker if they were not cleaned correctly. Also something in the microwave could have contaminated it while it was heating up, since it was not covered. Some things we could fix would be to thoroughly clean the items used before we use them in them in making the agar. Also to quickly transfer the swabs to the bacteria after swiping the surfaces with them so things in the air cant get on the swab. Also wear gloves while handling the wipes becasue germs and bacteria on your hands could have gotten on the wipes before they reached the surfaces. If we clean a surface with a disinfectant wipe, then it is probable that it will not clean up most of the bacteria and may grow more.

__** Work Cited: **__

"Bacteria." //Bacteria//. N.p., 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2012. <[]>

"Bacteria." //Society for General Microbiology//. N.p., 2010. Web. 14 Dec. 2012. <[]>

"Bacteria Growth Requirements." Bacteria Growth Requirements. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. < [|__http://archive.food.gov.uk/hea/teachers/plainenglish/part2.html__] >.

Collins, Allyson T. "Disinfecting Wipes May Spread, Not Kill, Germs." ABC News. ABC News Network, 03 June 2008. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. < [|__http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Germs/story?id=4989093__] >.

Growing Bacteria. //Science Enterprises LLC//. N.p., 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2012. <[]>

Solis, K. T. "How Can I Kill Bacteria." WiseGeek. Ed. Bronwyn Harris. Conjecture Corporation, 13 Nov. 2012. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. < [|__http://www.wisegeek.com/how-can-i-kill-bacteria.htm__] >.