Blog Assignment #3: Mystery Microbes

    Grace Stringer

    4/14/2017

    Agar plate comparisons

Day 3
(Only one sample grew four colonies, all others had no growth present)

Day 7
(All but one sample has colonies present at this point)

1. What objects did you decide to sample and why?                                                                                 I decided to sample everybody phone in my lab group. I did this to see who kept their phone the cleanest! To do this I sampled near the bottom of the phone on the back, near the place to charge it!
2. What type of growth did you see on Day 3? on Day 7? Describe the growth.                                         On day three I only saw growth for one of the phones I took a sample off of. The growth was a total of four colonies. On day seven I saw growth in all but one of the samples. The other growth also presented itself as colonies. Some colonies were smaller than others. One colony also turned a yellow color which I thought was a little strange!
3. Did you have growth from all the samples? If not, why do you think that happened?                             I did not have growth from all the samples, one persons phone did not have any growth. This could of happened for many reasons. For one I could of taken the sample wrong, or not put the right side of the q-tip onto the agar. or the persons phone could of been extremely well kept and clean!
4. What sample yielded the most growth of organisms? Why do you think that happened?                 Sample number 2 yielded the most growth, and I think this may have been because there was visible grime on the surface, or the person is just unsanitary.
5. Did anything about the growth you observed surprise you?                                                               The only thing that surprised me is I thought there would be more growth, because people claim phones are extremely dirty.
6. Describe the plate of your lab mate. What did you notice about their plate?                                     The plate of my lab mate mirrored mine, in which had the most growth per person the sample was taken from. Their samples were taken from phone cases, on the lock button portion.                          

   
   

   Jonathan's plate
   (Phone cases for comparison to the actual phone)
7. Compare and contrast your plate with your lab mate's plate.                                                             My plate was samples of peoples phones, on the back of the phone near the charging portion of the phone. Jonathan's plate, which I compared mine too was the phone cases lock button. Both of our plates mirrored each others. People with the lesser amount of growth on the phone also had the lesser amount of growth on their lock cases. Although one of his actually grew mold, mine did not. Also I had a colony that turned yellow while he did not.
8. Reflection: What does this mini experiment reveal to you about the ubiquity of microorganisms?          This experiment revealed to me that microorganisms are everywhere and we don't notice it or think about it! Also even though phones have cases these microorganisms get underneath the phone case and live there as well, which I think is extremely nasty. With microorganims able to get into little places theres no where we won't find them, except maybe on Jonathan's phone, for some weird reason!
9. Write at least 3 scientific questions based on your observation.
1. Would another area on the phone be dirtier?
2. Does cleaning your phone reduce the amount of microorganisms present on it?/
3. Can these microorganisms make us sick in anyway?
10. Write 1 hypothesis based on the questions above.                                                                             Cleaning your phone often can lessen the amount of microorganisms present on your phone.