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A few questions related to my science project that I would like to ask
Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2020 9:05 pm
by deleted-937362
Hello, I hope that you are all doing well! I have a few science fair questions related to my science fair project that I would like to ask, here they are:
·Which ingredients that are used in soap are useful to make the soap more effective?
·How can soap moisturize our skin?
·How can soap and water be harmful to our skin when washing our hands?
·Would I use a petri dish or an agar dish to find the amount of germs on my hand and why? (Keep in mind that I want my data to be as reliable as possible)
·In what other ways can handwashing be beneficial to the enviorment? (Is there a way that it can help plants, the growth of food,etc?
Re: A few questions related to my science project that I would like to ask
Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2020 6:11 pm
by koneill18
Hi there!
I attempted to answer all of your questions one by one. I hope this helps!
1. Here is the link to a Science Buddies project that should help you answer this question. If you click on the ‘Background’ tab, it gives you an overview of the chemical components of soap and how they give soap its cleaning properties.
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... background
2. Here is a link to an article that talks about ingredients that can be added to soaps to make them more moisturizing for the skin.
https://www.healthline.com/health/skin/ ... r-dry-skin
3. The article above might help you answer this question as well. Soap ingredients such as sodium lauryl sulfate, added fragrances, synthetic dyes, or alcohols can make the skin dry and irritated. Scientists have also expressed concern about the overuse of antibacterial soaps. Some studies have suggested that repeated use of these soaps over time might cause skin bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics.
https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer- ... -and-water
4. You can buy nutrient agar plates to culture bacteria from your skin. If you press your fingers to the plates, the microbes will be transferred to the plates where they will grow and form colonies on the agar. Then you can count the colonies to figure out how much bacteria was on your hand.
5. This is an interesting question. We have extensive data on the benefits of handwashing to human health, but I haven’t really seen any studies talking about benefits to the environment. I’ve seen some articles saying that soapy water could be used to kill weeds and act as an insecticide for your plants, but that’s the only thing I could think of.
https://www.gardenguides.com/100190-eff ... lants.html