Testing the spread of germs after hand washing with glo germ gel and ultraviolet light

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Isabella1202
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Joined: Mon Apr 24, 2017 8:11 pm
Occupation: Student

Testing the spread of germs after hand washing with glo germ gel and ultraviolet light

Post by Isabella1202 »

Hi I'm doing my year 9 science research project and I'm wanting to test the growth and spread of germs after washing my hands with different products like hand soap and hand sanitizer. I want to use the glo germ gel and a ultraviolet light to see exactly how much germs are left on my hands. The problem I'm having is how I am going to graph that as my results won't be numbers as such but just how much germs I can see. I don't know if there is a way I can measure this so that way it's easily graphed or if there is another way I can test how much germs are left on my hands after washing them. I was going to originally take a swob of my hands and grow the germs in some agar plates but my science teacher isn't allowing me to do that. I really need your help urgently as I need to start soon thank you.
Crazy_Mad_Scientist
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Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2016 7:14 pm
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Re: Testing the spread of germs after hand washing with glo germ gel and ultraviolet light

Post by Crazy_Mad_Scientist »

Hi Isabella1202,

I'm not exactly an expert, but I have done a similar experiment last year :D . First of all, you should ask your science teacher why he is not letting you grow the bacteria on your hand. As long as it is done in a school lab, proper aseptic techniques is observed, and petri dishes are sealed and disposed of properly, this should not be too much of a big deal.

If your teacher still doesn't want you to grow the bacteria, you could work with less hazardous bacteria/microorganisms. For example, obtain some petri dishes and agar from school, and culture some baker's yeast on the dish as a model "bacteria on your hand". Afterwards, punch filter paper (coffee filters) circles using a hole punch, and soak the circles in the different products you were orginally planning to test. Next, place the disks on your petri dishes with the yeast on it. Leave the dish (sealed) for 48 hours and you should see various diameters of "clearing zones". The bigger these zones are, the more effective the product you were testing is against yeast. This is called the disk diffusion method, or kirby bauer method. Talk to your teacher about that.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!
Crazy_Mad_Scientist
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