 Winning Science Fair Project - Bacteria Killers!
Bacteria grow in a wide variety of conditions. They may be found on the tops of mountains, the bottom of the ocean, in the stomachs of animals, and in the frozen ice of Antarctica. In terms of evolution, bacteria are thought to be very old organisms, appearing about 3.7 billion years ago. One feature that has enabled them to spread so far, and last so long is their ability to go dormant for extended periods of time. Some bacteria cause disease, but most bacteria are helpful.
Bacteria are both harmful and useful within the environment, and to animals and humans. The role of bacteria in disease and infection is important. Some bacteria act as pathogens and cause tetanus, typhoid fever, pneumonia, syphilis, cholera, food-born illnesses and tuberculosis. Other bacteria help to decompose dying organisms to release nutrients back into the environment. Without this, there would be no photosynthesis in plants and consequently no food.
Antiseptic measures may be taken to prevent infection by bacteria, for example, prior to cutting the skin during surgery or swabbing skin with alcohol when piercing the skin with the needle of a syringe. Sterilization of surgical and dental instruments is done to make them sterile or pathogen-free to prevent contamination and infection by bacteria. Sanitizers and disinfectants are used to kill bacteria or other pathogens to prevent contamination and risk of infection. But which disinfectants (or cleaners) work the best?
To conduct your experiment you will need 18 agar plates or Petri dishes, masking tape,1 teaspoon each of Mr. Clean, Lysol toilet boil cleaner, Fantastik all purpose cleaner, Windex multi-surface cleaner, and Scrub Free bathroom cleaner (or any other cleaners you wish to test),10 sterilized q-tips and a dark place like a cupboard at room temperature.
Place different bacteria in several petri dishes that contain a special ingredient to help the bacteria grow. Here is how to do it: rub your fingers on 6 petri dishes,rub sterilized q-tips on the kitchen floor then rub them on 6 different petri dishes,rub the sterilized q-tips on a toilet bowl and then rub them on the 6 last petri dishes.
In each series of 6, leave one petri dish with no cleaning product to see how much bacteria will normally grow. On all of the other 5 petri dishes put a different cleaning product. Use exactly one tablespoon of each cleaning product in each petri dish. Now watch the bacteria grow.
OK, what have you found; which cleaning product works the best?
Author: Mort Barish |
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 Science Fair Projects -- Weird Topics, Cool Projects!
The average car driver spends about 14 days of his/her life waiting for traffic signals to turn from red to green. If you listened to books on tape while waiting you could "read" about 70 books during this time.
In 1997 about 500 people in China were able to ski. Now in 2007, over 5 million Chinese will spend time on the slopes. Seems like middle class living has reached this ancient country.
If you are right handed, you will live a little longer than left handed people. I wonder what would happen if you were a natural lefty and tried to become right handed through practice. Perhaps a good subject for a health project or a science fair experiment.
The Bank of America was once called the Bank of Italy. Buon giorno you all.
If an ant gets inebriated, it will always fall to its right side. What I want to know is where does an ant get its booze.
Most elephants weigh less than the tongue of the blue whale. If an elephant gets stuck in a blue whale, just tell the whale to cough.
Birds do not sleep in their nests. They may occasionally nap in them, but they actually sleep in other places. I wonder where do the birds sleep if not in their nests.
The formula for cold cream has hardly changed at all in the 1,700 years since it was originally made by the Roman physician Galen. So why do some cold cream cost just a few dollars and other cost almost enough to buy a new Porsche.
Crocodiles and alligators are surprisingly fast on land. Although they are rapid, they are not agile; so if you ever find yourself chased by one, run in a zigzag line. If this doesn't work, the management is not responsible.
Irving Thalberg of MGM had the habit of making people wait outside his office for extended periods. He kept the Marx Brothers longer than they liked. When he finally got around to seeing them, they were stark naked outside his doorway, roasting potatoes in the lobby's fireplace. It was the last time he kept them waiting. After all, they are comedians.
In ancient China and certain parts of India, mouse meat was considered a great delicacy.
In ancient Greece, where the mouse was sacred to Apollo, mice were sometimes devoured by temple priests. Some of these priests were known as "mouse breath".
In the United States, a pound of potato chips costs two hundred times more than a pound of potatoes. It goes to show you that by taking a healthy potato, frying it in fatty oil to help make it unhealthy, ruining the environment with tons of packaging material, and charging a small fortune for the result of this effort, you can make many Americans happy.
Half the foods eaten throughout the world today were developed by farmers in the Andes Mountains. Potatoes, maize, sweet potatoes, squash, all varieties of beans, peanuts, papayas, strawberries, mulberries and many other foods were first grown in this region. I have to believe that the foods were unadulterated, pure and better for you in those olden days.
A giraffe can go without water longer than a camel can. Next time I have to cross the Sahara desert, I will be certain to go by giraffe.
Blue whales weigh as much as 30 elephants and are as long as 3 Greyhound buses.
According to tests made at the Institute for the Study of Animal Problems in Washington, D.C., dogs and cats, like people, are either right-handed or left-handed --- that is, they favor either their right or left paws.
In the marriage ceremony of the ancient Inca Indians of Peru, the couple was considered officially wed when they took off their sandals and handed them to each other.
According to acupuncturists, there is a point on the head that you can press to control your appetite. It is located in the hollow just in front of the flap of the ear. (Try it!)
Tibetans, Mongolians, and people in parts of western China put salt in their tea instead of sugar.
In 1976 a Los Angeles secretary officially married a 50-pound rock. The ceremony was witnessed by more than 20 people.
There is approximately one chicken for every human being in the world.
The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words. More than 2 billion pencils are manufactured each year in the United States. If these were laid end to end they would circle the world nine times.
A rainbow can be seen only in the morning or late afternoon. It can occur only when the sun is 40 degrees or less above the horizon.
In Calama, a town in the Atacama Desert of Chile, it has never rained.
Ants stretch when they wake up. They also appear to yawn in a very human manner before taking up the tasks of the day. Ho hum.
Bees have 5 eyes. There are 3 small eyes on the top of a bee's head and 2 larger ones in front.
A sneeze can travel as fast as 100 miles per hour. Ride a sneeze to work. It will be faster than your car.
It is impossible to sneeze and keep one's eyes open at the same time.
Author: Mort Barish |
