Does+the+settiing+of+bacteria+affect+its+growth?

__Title__: Take a Step Bac From the Light

__Abstract__: Our experiment is testing the setting in which bacteria grows the best in. We picked areas in which we wanted to get samples. We chose the band room floor in the brass section, the bathroom up in the band room. We took two samples from each location and then them on the agar. We put three in a lit area of the room and three in a dark drawer. There we let them grow over a course of a few weeks. We counted the number of colonies that grew over time. We had great results and we also were proved right.

__Purpose__: The purpose of this experiment is to test whether or not bacteria growth is better in a dark, damp space or in a dry, lighted space. It has been said that bacteria will grow better when covered, than in the light (Does,2012). Most bacteria will grow in dark, moist, warm areas (What Conditions, 2012). Most bacteria will multiply rapidly under such favorable conditions (Bacteria,2012). As you can see this type of experiment has been done before, but we would like to test it ourselves. The growth of bacteria is intriguing to us and we would like to learn more by taking samples from different areas of the school, this experiment might also be useful so we can find out which parts of the school that should be cleaned a little more carefully. Because of all this information, we believe that the bacteria will grow better in the wet and dark space. We are planning on taking samples from the band room floor in the brass section and the finger scanners in the lunch room. "The four main requirements for bacterial growth are food, moisture, warmth and time." (bacteria growth, 2012) To do this experiment, the Bacteria have special needs to grow .Bacteria, mold and yeast are like us, they all need some sort of food source. Agar is the standard growth medium for the culturing of bacteria, mold or yeast (growing Bacteria,2012). Bacteria are mostly unicellular (single-celled) organisms that lack chlorophyll and are among the smallest living things on Earth—only viruses are smaller. Multiplying rapidly under favorable conditions, bacteria can aggregate into colonies of millions or even billions of organisms within a space as small as a drop of water (Bacteria,2012).

__Hypothesis__: If we put the bacteria in a dark, damp space then it will grow quicker.

__Material__: Q-tips, agar, petri dish, available space near the window and in a dark cabinet, wet paper towels.

__Procedure__: First we will go around and take samples from different areas throughout the school, such as the trumpet section floor in the band room and the finger scanners in the lunch room. Then we will put them in the petri dishes and place them in the correct environment, such as dark and damp, light and damp, light and dry, and dark and dry. We will check them every day and record our results. We will leave them there for at least a week. After a week is up we will record what we have found.

__Data: __

Results from experiment:
 * || 1st Weekend || Tuesday || Wednesday || 2 weeks from Tuesday || Wednesday ||
 * **__Light__** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Brass Section || Nothing || Nothing || Nothing || Nothing || Nothing ||
 * Corinne's Mouth || Nothing || Nothing || Nothing || Nothing || Nothing ||
 * Band Bathroom || Nothing || Nothing || Nothing || Nothing || Nothing ||
 * **__Dark__** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Brass Section || 1  ||  2  ||  3  ||  4  ||  5  ||
 * Corinne's Mouth || 1  ||  1  ||  1  ||  1  ||  1  ||
 * Band Bathroom || 1  ||  1  ||  2  ||  2  ||  3  ||
 * Band Bathroom || 1  ||  1  ||  2  ||  2  ||  3  ||



__Analysis__: We took two samples from each testing site, one to put in the dark and one to put in the light. We chose the floor in the brass section in the band room, Corinne Zimmerman’s mouth after she returned from being sick, and the toilet up in the band bathroom. After we put the samples on the agar and taped the petri dishes shut, we placed three dishes in a section of the room that would stay lit all day and three in a drawer only to be open for a short period of time when we needed to observe them. As you can see by the graph above, virtually nothing grew in our dishes that we set in the light. One reason might be that at least one of the dishes of agar didn’t quite set right. However the dishes we placed in the drawer grew quite rapidly. When we came back from our long weekend we had many little colonies sprouting up. The results kept growing while the ones in the light didn’t change a bit. We expected these results, although we had hoped for some growth in the dishes that sat in the light. My partner and I had a band symposium at Western Illinois University and were not able to collect data for a few days. We were amazed at how much had grown in our absence. Overall the results we received were what we expected. Nothing from the first three, 5 from the band room floor, 1 from Corinne’s mouth, and 3 from the toilet in the band room bathroom.

__Conclusion__: Our experiment seemed to support our hypothesis, which was, if we put the bacteria in a dark, damp space then it will grow quicker. We bacteria like darkened areas to grow as we found out. The only bacteria that grew was located in a drawer, which only opened when we needed to observe our bacteria, then was closed once finished. The bacteria that sat under a light all day and night failed to grow any bacteria what so ever. We were expecting a few colonies to grow but they did not. The colonies that grew in the dark, started as nothing more than a speck, but over time grew into a bigger, more visible colony. This was what we thought would occur. Overall our experiment was a success.

__Limitations__: We ran into some limitations throughout our experiment. At least one of our petri dishes full of agar, that was set in the light, was not made properly and therefore we concluded prevented anytime of bacterial growth. We also had some difficulties getting some samples so then had to change those testing sites. We ended up using the floor of the brass section in the band room floor, the inside of Corinne Zimmerman’s mouth, and the toilet in the band restroom. All turned out to be good and usable testing sites, just not the original testing locations. We had some issues gathering data due to snow days, long weekends, and school function absences. We gathered as much as we could, with the outcome we hoped for, just not as much data as we would have hoped to present. To fix these issues we can make extra agar to have on hand, pick our testing zones more wisely, and arrange for someone to help us with gathering data in case of an absence. These would all be things we need to consider in the future. So in the end we believe that, if you let bacteria samples grow in the dark, then the colonies will appear and grow more rapidly than that of a bacteria sample growing in a lit area.

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