science

[mould]

I am conducting a science experiment involving growing mould. I have to find

which food grows rhe best mould. I have set this up using lemon, bread,

carrot and cheese. I have five tests going and what I would like to know is:

What is my control?

Is the variable the actual different food types? and

How do I actually measure the growth for me to graph?

Would I measure the spread or take a series of photographs?

Thankyou for your help with my experiment

[olgakay]

Dear Mold,

You are correct to point out that your experiment needs a constant and a variable. I agree that a good variable would be the type pf food for the mold. Lemon, bread, carrot and cheese are a good selection because some of these are known to grow mold, while others (carrot) usually don't get as much.

Now, what would be the constant value? I would suggest that you get the same type of mold. You should grow the same mold on different foods and see where it grows best. Then you can really test which food is better.

The first step of your experiment would eb to get mold. You can probably get mold yourself by leaving moist bread in the refrigerator and hoping that they would grow mold. Once mold appears, you are ready to spread it on different foods. To make sure that your food didn't have mold in it prior to the experiment, I would wipe it with a hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol that you can get at a drug store.

As a positive control, I would choose the food that the mold really likes (bread?). Mold should grow very well on it. As a negative control, I would choose something where mold doesn't grow. Antibacterial sponge?

This should be an interesting experiment.

[rebeccamaman]

Dear mold, This sounds like a really fun experiment. If you measure the size of your mold colonies you can graph the data to show the growth on various foods. Some pictures would also make a nice visual.

[rebeccamaman]

How grows the mold?

[mould]

Help!!!
I need help with how to discuss my mould growing experiment. I have observed that the moulds are different colours & sizes The bread has the most mould Whilst the carrot has nil. The cheese has a variety of colours, dark yellow, white, red & black while the lemon has the typical green and white mould.
How to I discuss these different results scientifically. I need to hand in my report really soon. Also does mould NOT grow on carrots because it is a root vegetable and resistent to spore growth.
Thank heaps for your help
Regards Mould

[MelissaB]

Hi,

To start, you probably want to include a discussion of the fact that different colors of mold probably indicate different genera/species of mold. Do you think that all of those species have the same growth rate? How might that have affected your results?

To answer your other question, I don't know for certain but my guess would be that they are all made out of different material. Based on what you know about what the foods are made of, how easy do you think it is for an organism (mold) to use the nutrients in that food?

[Willz]

Mold comes in different colors depending on the type of mold that grows and the genetics of the mold. Environment usually doesn't effect the differences in mold color. Also, the color of molds comes from their ascospores, which are the structures that mold uses to reproduce.

As for carrots, mold DO grow on carrots. Check out these websites:
http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department ... ll/prm7736
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/cro ... rt06a2.htm

[rebeccamaman]

Here are some additional resources. The 2nd one has some very cool images of food mold. Different species of molds will produce different colors. Different molds may grow faster on certain foods due to the nutrients available in the foods and requirements of the particular species of mold.
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/19 ... .Mi.r.html
http://www.uleth.ca/emf/boxak/

[mould]

Thanks for your help with my experiment. I have completed it and have finalized my results. I will be handing it in within the next couple of days.
Thanks again, mould