Disinfectant / Bacteria project problem

[amyCC]

Posted on behalf of student
------------------------------------------

I am using the bacteria growing kit and was doing the disinfectants experiment. (https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... tants-work)

I used plastic cups as my fomite (rather than the cutting board) and used water as my control group. I have the plates on cookie sheet inside an indoor closet at room temperature approximately 72 F
I am not using incubator

No bacteria is growing except for one
But not even the control group is showing bacteria. Which concerns me, they’ve been sitting since Friday.

I am in South Carolina and was wondering if placing in outdoor closet where it is hot will render better results.

I am panicking here since it is for science fair this Saturday 20th

[chloemkohl]

Hello!

It is possible that leaving the bacteria sheet outside could have helped with bacterial growth. Many different microbes grow best in warmer temperatures, which as you mentioned, can yield better results. I see that your science fair was on Saturday, so I apologize if this advice is not relevant anymore. Nonetheless, this can still be a fun experiment to reproduce even without a science fair - I performed a similar experiment last year and got very interesting results!

Good luck and feel free to reach out if you have any more questions!

- Chloe