Research Help?

[Erica36]

I am doing a project on the effects of various music genres on the growth of bacteria. I am having trouble finding resources for this. Could you reccomend some sources or give advice on how to find what I am looking for?

[Erica36]

By sources I mean articles, books, sites etc. on the topic

[SciB]

Hi Erica,

You picked an intriguing topic. I don't think many scientists have tested the effect of music on bacterial growth before. That's why you can't find any articles about it in the scientific literature. Doing a google search, i found a few anecdotal references that you have probably also seen. A search for 'music AND bacteria' on PubMed did not yield any relevant references.

I think you are pretty much on your own with this project, which actually makes it more exciting since now it is really YOUR project. Have you had experience growing bacteria? The E. coli K12 strain is the one commonly used for lab experiments because it is not a human pathogen. If you haven't already done so, read the Scibuddies' info on working safely with microorganisms: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... fety.shtml

Let me know what your level of expertise is in culturing bacteria and if you have a mentor and access to a lab. Knowing that, I can help you better in designing experiments and performing growth assays.

Since bacteria lack ears, I am assuming that any response you would get to music playing nearby would be due to sound vibrations through the Petri dish or culture flask. I don't know how loud the music would have to be or how long you would have to play it to see an affect. Time and loudness would be some of your independent variables along with type of music. One complication that comes to mind is how to measure the loudness. This is done with a decibel meter and I checked to see if there is an app for that and there is. So, assuming you have or can borrow a smart phone, you can use it to measure the sound intensity.

The other complication is that you may drive your parents, friends, teacher or labmates crazy by having loud rock music playing for hours during a test. Maybe you could rig up a sound-proof box with an ipod inside to limit annoyance to those in the vicinity.

Let me know how you plan to do these experiments and I can help you better with the details.

Regards,

Scibee

[Erica36]

Thank you. I already have my expieriment designed and I have everything worked out, so I think I'm okay. I'm sure I'll find some source since we have to have 3 (i currently have 2/3)

[deleted-71625]

Hello Erica36,

Sounds ( ) like an interesting project! SciB has some great ideas. Since you will be measuring different types of music on the growth rate of bacteria, you can look up topics such as Physics & sound, sound waves, measuring sound, decibels, frequency, etc. How do bacteria normally grow; under what conditions? Do some research about this. Here is a resource about how to conduct research and resources on where to look: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... nformation. Here is a website that can get you started on thinking about your background research : http://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/Contexts ... ring-sound

For your project, I typed into Google "sound waves and bacterial growth" and got some interesting results. There have been experiments done on this, which can be good, you can use some of the same resources the researches used (look in their bibliography section), and then use their research as a jumping off point. Here are a couple of websites that I saw using that search: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12501293; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361254/; http://www.metabolomics.auckland.ac.nz/ ... und-detail; http://link.springer.com/article/10.100 ... 011-0360-x

One great resource for research papers, articles, research projects is Google Scholar, where you can find professional research projects: http://scholar.google.com/

Also, since you will be working with living organisms, you will need to take caution as you do your experiment. Check with your school on the limitations of what species you can work with, for instance, E. coli might not be a good choice since it is a pathogen. Ask your science teacher. Have you thought about using yeast instead?
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... fety.shtml

Please post here again to let us help you along the way.

[jinghaan5696]

Hi,

May I know what is the results for this experiment? Can I know how do you conduct this experiment? I am currently doing a research on this topic, and I don't find much information on this..

Your help will be much appreciated.

Regards,
Hannah

[deleted-71625]

Hi Hanna,

Thank you for your post and welcome to science buddies.

As volunteers our job is to help you find the answers and do the research yourself, so you can learn the scientific process. So rather than asking others for their results, we can help you find out the results yourself, and no one is going to have all the answers, that is what science is all about. Science is answering questions and testing hypotheses to gain knowledge. It's about making mistakes, too.

When you post, please let us know specifically how we can help, such as where you can find resources, how to set up your experiment,how to interpret your results,etc. Have you checked the resources we have given to the other student? That'd be a great place to start.

I look forward to seeing your progress. Also,when is your project due? Thanks. Have a great day.