Homeschool: Germ Experiment
4/24/2012
After reading about another family's germ experiment here, I knew that I wanted to give it a try. Here are our results.
We took cotton-swab samples from 4 sources and had a 5th tub that we left plain, for our "control." The 4 sources we swabbed were: the coffee pot handle, the computer mouse, the inside of my mouth and the rim of the toilet. We all expected the toilet, mouth and computer mouse to be germy. It was my daughter's suggestion to swab the coffee pot handle, which surprised me, but we went with it.
Our germs needed more than 4 days to grow. We gave them 6 days in a dark, warm place (inside a kitchen cupboard) and they still didn't grow as colorfully and prolific as we hoped. But they did grow. You can't tell a lot from the pictures, but the 2 furthest-left tubs have some growth, the middle one has a small amount and the 2 on the right look clean.
The winner was: the coffee pot handle!
2nd place - computer mouse (not a big surprise there - who ever cleans their computer mouse?)
3rd place - the toilet rim
4th place - my mouth
This was a fun and super easy experiment. The base substance is just gelatin, water and sugar which cools in the fridge for 24 hours. Then add the swapped cultures and let those germs grow in a warm and dark place.
Do share! Where do the germs live in your house?!
2 comments:
Yes, and I try to lick the handle of the coffee pot each morning before going to work. It keeps my immune system in check :o)
-daddy
this is really interesting! i think my daughter would enjoy this project! although I have to say I am slightly concerned about what I may find...
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