Blog Post #3 Mystery Microbes

Blog Post #3 Mystery Microbes

Day 3 

Day 7 

What objects did you decide to sample and why?

- I decided to use my phone, the desk, sink and the doorknob. I selected these specifically because I feel that sometimes we forget we use it so often that it could get extremely dirty. For example our phones although ultimately we are the ones touching our phones the most it could be extremely dirty versus something that everyone touches like the doorknob. 

What type of growth did you see on Day 3? on Day 7? Describe the growth.

-Surprisingly I did not see a lot of growth in my Day 3, I was a little bit concerned that I didn't get enough of a sample or it was just growing that slow. Once it was Day 7, I felt a little bit better knowing that some bacteria grew. It was quite noticeable. 

Did you have growth from all the samples? If not, why do you think that happened?

- I surprisingly did not have growth on the doorknob which was extremely surprising because everyone touches the door so I assumed that it would grow the most bacteria. My phone also had very minimal growth. 

What sample yielded the most growth of organisms? Why do you think that happened?

- The sink seemed to have the most growth, I think that's quite understandable because usually at sinks we wash and clean the items we have used in lab and they could get quite dirty but we usually don't tend to wash the knob to the sink. 

Did anything about the growth you observed surprise you?

- I think what was surprising is that I expected all 4 samples to grow a lot more. I assume it's probably the way I got the sample it must've not rubbed on well onto the petri dish. 

Eloina's petri dish Day 7

Describe the plate of your lab mate. What did you notice about their plate?

- I noticed that her sample grew significantly more than mine did. We both used our phones as one of our samples. I didn't even consider using the aquarium water as a sample. 

Compare and contrast your plate with your lab mate's plate

- As I mentioned before, you could clearly see that Eloina's plate grew significantly. I'm not sure what Eloina sampled from her phone. I used the top of my phone where the front camera or where the ear piece is. I could see a significant amount of growth, I am hoping if the petri dishes are still in lab, I could look at them over the next few days just to see if mine grew any more. I also noticed two of her samples did not grow so that makes me feel a bit relieved about my results. There was no surprise that the aquarium water would grow a lot. 

Reflection : This experiment has made me realize to be more cautious and more aware of our surroundings. I personally enjoyed this experiment because we got to see the bacteria grow but at the same time I didn't really like this experiment because I'm a germaphobe so seeing all this bacteria made me want to wash my hands a lot but it has made me more aware and I will keep in mind of the simpler things that could be very dirty. 

• Write at least 3 scientific questions based on your observation 

1. Would the home button of my phone be a better sample? 

2. Should I redo my samples to test to accuracy? 

3. What if all my samples were just phones to see what would grow on each person's phone? 

Write 1 hypothesis based on the questions above.

- The home button would be a better sample because we use our hands all the time to touch everything rather than our ears.