Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I am doing an experiment on the rate of mold grows on different household surfaces (tile, drywall, carpet, aluminum trim, wood molding, etc). I am having problems with my pretest, trying to get mold to grow on a bathroom tile. Have to be sure I can actually grow mold in order to proceed with the experiment. I placed the tile in a plastic bag with a piece of wet papertowel and left it in the bathroom thinking there would be enought continuous moisture to facilitate mold growth. So far I can't see anything. Not sure whether there is a better way to grow the mold?

I also want to know whether I will be able to notice when the mold first starts to grow without using a microscope. I am trying to work on the experimental design, and am not sure whether I am setting up the experiment correctly.

Any suggestions?

dear schoolbuddy,

thanks for contacting science buddies. regarding your questions, here are some websites that explain problems with culturing and how to read a plate. http://www.umsl.edu/~microbes/pdf/cultureproblems.pdf https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ates.shtml

Also, you might want to try to culture the mold on agar plates. Also, you might want to try to grow the mold on surfaces that are not exposed to other people. For example, you can buy a bathroom tile, piece of drywall, piece of carpet, piece of aluminum trip, and piece of wood molding. Set up all the materials to the same conditions (particulary a moist environment)Put a small amount of glucose and water solution on top of each substance. A few days later you can just measure the amount of mold colonies or you can plate and then count the mold on an agar plate ( http://www.amazon.com/Petri-Dishes-Agar ... 669&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/PacSci-Petri-Dish ... 669&sr=8-3
http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Resource ... 669&sr=8-2 )

Also, I wanted to remind you to be safe while working with mold. Mold can be dangerous to humans, pets, and other things, so take safety precautions while working with mold.

good luck,
scienceexpert123