10/4/2017 34 Comments Pre-TrialsTo begin the research process, we began by conducting pre-trials. The purpose of running pre-trials was to determine what did and did not work in our experiment. We wanted to run through our entire experimental design and see if any changes needed to be made in order to properly carry out the experiment. The first thing we did when starting pre-trials was make the agar needed in the Petri Dishes in order to grow the bacteria within the water. The water bottles were then washed with soap and hot water and then labeled 1-12. We then had to create a sterile straining method to strain the bacteria out of the water. In order to do this, coffee filters were cut to the size of the Petri Dishes and then placed in boiling water for one minute. After being boiled, they were placed in plastic bags to attempt to keep them in a sterile environment. All of the beakers were also washed with soap and hot water and the funnel was boiled to attempt to sterilize it. After everything was prepared and all of our materials were cleaned, it was time to begin the experimental process. Water bottles 1-6 were filled with 250 mL of tap water and water bottles 7-12 were filled with 250 mL of distilled water. Kendall then proceeded to drink out of each of the water bottles, trying her best to drink the same amount of water every time. The only bottles not drank out of were bottles 6 and 12, which were used as a control. The water bottles were then left on the counter over night. The next day, the water was poured through the sterile coffee filters using the funnel. After all of the water was strained through the coffee filters, the coffee filters were then placed on top of the agar previously created for approximately 15 seconds to transfer the bacteria from the coffee filters to the Petri Dishes. Once all of the bacteria was transferred, the Petri Dishes were placed in an incubator over night. Once the Petri Dishes were removed from the incubator, the number of colonies formed was counted. This was done by taking a marker and marking on the Petri Dishes the colonies as you count them. Overall, the experiment worked as it was expected to. We ran into no errors during the experimental process. No changes will be made to the experimental design for when we conduct our actual trials. The picture above shows all of the materials used in the experiment. The only things not pictured are the tap water, the scale, and the incubator. The picture above shows what the agar should look like once it is ready to be poured into the Petri Dishes. It is important to know that the foam created when the agar is done rises extremely quickly and that you should pay close attention to your agar. If the flask is not taken off of the hot plate immediately after it starts foaming, the foam will rise up and out of the flask, creating a large mess and ruining that batch of agar. The picture above shows the two standards for the experiment. The top Petri Dish contains the bacteria grown in the tap water and the bottom Petri Dish contains the bacteria grown in the distilled water. The pictures above show how the bacteria colonies within the Petri Dish were counted. The picture on the left shows a Petri Dish that has not yet been counted. The picture on the right shows the same Petri Dish after the number of bacteria colonies were counted. The dots on the Petri Dish represent each bacteria colony accounted for.
34 Comments
Mia Hahn
10/30/2017 05:36:34 am
I wanted to know what problems you were already prepared to face before starting. I know in your blog you said you had no complications in your testing, but I wanted to know if you had already prepared for problems before, and prevented them from happening in the test.
Reply
Kara Thompson
12/1/2017 07:26:51 am
Our main concern when starting our pre-trials was that no bacteria would grow. Going into this, we were prepared to have to change the incubation time to see what would work; however, our original incubation time worked just fine.
Reply
Avery Partlow
10/30/2017 05:46:10 am
Hi, I am Avery Partlow from 9A. I think this idea is very interesting.
Reply
Kara Thompson
12/1/2017 07:27:47 am
Thank you! We'll be posting the results very soon!
Reply
Alex Kovacs 9C SHHS
10/30/2017 09:49:59 am
To me, it seems that chlorinated water would eliminate bacteria growth much more than unchlorinated water.
Reply
Kara Thompson
12/1/2017 07:31:32 am
Our experiment was to find out which type of water contained the most bacteria after drinking out of the water bottles. As you will see when we post our results, the chlorinated water had a lower concentration of bacteria colonies than the non chlorinated water did.
Reply
Isha Khan 9C
10/30/2017 09:51:38 am
Its a petty good concept, but it is a bit too text heavy. Try making it more engaging.
Reply
Kara Thompson
12/1/2017 07:35:54 am
Thanks for your suggestion! However, if we were to eliminate some of our wording, it would become harder to understand how the experiment and how it was done. When we post the results, we'll be posting more photos and some videos if that is what you mean by making it more engaging.
Reply
Evan Tyrrell
10/30/2017 11:03:13 am
My name is Evan Tyrrell from 9B and I was wondering how you got the picture of the bacteria, I have tried, but it never worked out.
Reply
Kara Thompson
12/1/2017 07:38:32 am
The bacteria pictured are in Petri dishes, so any camera would suffice.
Reply
Kyle Cooper
10/30/2017 11:38:23 am
Hi, I'm from 9C and I agree with Isha when she says its a bit too text heavy, but other than that good concept and good luck.
Reply
Kara Thompson
12/1/2017 07:40:22 am
Without the text, it would become hard to understand the experiment and the experimental process. More pictures will be added along with some videos when the results are posted.
Reply
Jimmy Neimann 9A
10/30/2017 01:54:30 pm
Hi, I am Jimmy Neimann from Lake Shore High School. I really like this project, as I think it is more applicable to the general public than some of the other experiments, since we all drink water. I also like the idea behind the project because there is a lot of debate on whether chlorinated water or unchlorinated water is cleaner.
Reply
Kara Thompson
12/1/2017 07:48:30 am
Thank you! That was our thought process when deciding our topic, knowing just how much of an impact we would have on society by working with something everyone is familiar with and needs. The results will be posted soon and you will be able to see which water contains the least amount of bacteria once it is drank out of.
Reply
Justice Glasgow 9C WWT
10/30/2017 02:30:34 pm
Hey! Nice job with this, it really caught my attention. The only thing that i would like to point out is that i feel that you need to be more detailed with some things. Like how big the Petri Dish is and how to make the agar. Other than this you did a wonderful job. Very interesting. :)
Reply
Kara Thompson
12/1/2017 07:56:03 am
Thank you! I believe the Petri dishes were 100x15 mm. As for the agar, 500 mL of water is added to a flask which is then placed on a hot plate on high heat. A stirring magnet is also added to the flask and the stirring setting is placed on 4. You then add 11.5 grams of nutrient agar powder to the flask and allow it to heat up. The agar will turn to somewhat of an apple cider color and start foaming. It is important to keep an eye on the agar because once it starts foaming, you have limited time to remove it off of the hot plate before it foams up and out of the flask. Your agar is then ready to pour into the Petri dishes. Only pour enough agar to cover the bottom of the Petri dish. The Petri dishes then have to sit and the agar has to solidify. Try not to move them when the agar is still liquid because if you get the agar on top of the Petri dish, that dish is no longer usable. Once the agar sets, you can store it in the refrigerator for up to a week, ensuring that the agar is placed up.
Reply
Adam Meyer from 9C and from FHS
10/30/2017 04:03:34 pm
Hello I am Adam Meyer from 9C and from FHS and I am glad you are doing this research because I have always wondered about this.
Reply
Kara Thompson
12/1/2017 07:59:52 am
Thank you! We'll be posting the results soon if you want to know how the experiment turned out.
Reply
Genna Gaitan from Warren Mott and 9C
10/30/2017 05:31:37 pm
Nice topic! It right away spiked my attention! Keep the information up and I'd add some more visuals!
Reply
Kara Thompson
12/1/2017 08:00:42 am
Thank you! When we post our results, we will be including more pictures and even some videos of the experimental process.
Reply
Teresa Lee
10/30/2017 05:46:59 pm
Hi, I'm Teresa Lee from 9B and Sterling Heights High School, and I was wondering where you got the distilled water (Dasani, Kirkland, etc) and will that make a difference in your results if you use different sources of distilled water?
Reply
Kara Thompson
12/1/2017 08:02:41 am
We actually bought the kroger brand gallons of distilled water. At one point we ran out of the Kroger distilled water and had to use the Meijer brand distilled water; it did not seem to impact the results of the experiment at all.
Reply
Nicole Cooks
10/30/2017 06:05:24 pm
I'm Nicole Cooks from 9c from Sterling Heights High School and I think that this is a great topic to research. Keep up the great work.
Reply
Kara Thompson
12/1/2017 08:03:30 am
Thank you! Be sure to check out our results once they are posted!
Reply
Nolan Ellis
10/30/2017 06:28:39 pm
Hi, I am Nolan Ellis, im in 9B, and I attend Fraser High School. I like how you incorporated multiple photos to truly visual the testing process on this research project.
Reply
Kara Thompson
12/1/2017 08:04:21 am
Thank you! More pictures and videos will be added when we post the results.
Reply
Adeeba Rahman 9C WMHS
10/30/2017 06:39:16 pm
Hi, I really like the concept of this idea. My question is, why was it needed to drink out of all of the water bottles?
Reply
Kara Thompson
12/1/2017 08:06:06 am
It was necessary to drink out of the water bottles in order to get the transfer of bacteria from the mouth to the water bottle. We were testing to see how leaving a water bottle out after taking a drink out of it would affect the bacteria within the water.
Reply
John Schultz
10/30/2017 06:50:18 pm
My name is John Schultz from 9B and Sterling Heights High School. I was wondering if there would be a better way to drink the water from the bottles rather then to just try your best to do the same from each bottle.
Reply
Kara Thompson
12/1/2017 08:08:21 am
We decided they only way to drink form the water bottles to ensure the transfer of bacteria was to just try and do our best to drink the same amount of water. This was decided because if we were to pour out a specific amount of water out of each water bottle, we would not have gotten the transfer of bacteria from the mouth to the water bottle.
Reply
Brendan Evert
10/30/2017 07:36:44 pm
I'm a part of 9C and attend SHHS. Aren't there other parts of cleaning and bottling water that might affect the growth of bacteria besides just the supposed decrease in bacteria from chlorinating the water. Let's say that you find less bacteria in the bottled water, how would you be able to conclusively say that bottled water is cleaner than tap water since each place or time it's produced may affect how much bacteria is in the bottled water.
Reply
Kara Thompson
12/1/2017 08:12:32 am
Yes, there are in fact other factors that go into the cleanliness of water. For example, the type of bottle that the water is stored in, like a metal water bottle or different types of plastic water bottles, can affect the bacteria growth in water bottles. Also, the tops of water bottles also affect the bacteria growth, squeeze top water bottles can harbor more bacteria than slide top water bottles. In using the same type of water bottle with the same kinds of tops, we were attempting to control the different factors that can affect bacteria growth in water bottles. By using the same type of water bottles, the bacteria within the water grew in the same environment for both chlorinated and non chlorinated water.
Reply
Isabella Rinaldi 9C Cousino
10/31/2017 05:54:56 pm
This is a really interesting topic and I like the visuals that were added.
Reply
Kara Thompson
12/1/2017 08:13:18 am
Thank you! The results will be posted very soon, along with more visuals!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
|