Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi, I don't fully understand how to count the amount of bacteria in a certain amount of agar broth, but i need to know because I am testing different concentrations of the bacteria + broth on some other stuff. i would really appreciate anyones advice or help on this. Thank you. SVViking

Hi,

Here is a ScienceBuddies project writeup that describes a process for counting bacteria:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p015.shtml

Please post back with more questions if this writeup does not work for you.

Best regards,

Barrett Tomlinson

Thank you,

but, i just don't completely understand about "cfu", and how would you say that in a paper? would the numbers be small or large? would u call it a concentration or solution? (i.e. a 5 cfu solution of ....) thank you for the other article. it was somewhat helpful but i still dont understand. Thank you for your time and help.

SVViking

Hi

CFU stands for Colony Forming Unit, ie. a viable cell that will form a colony on the plate. This is explained on the second page of the second bibliographic citation of the writeup:

http://textbookofbacteriology.net/growth_2.html

Hope this helps..

Barrett L. Tomlinson

Hi

Thank you so much for your help Mr. Tomlinson. I really appreciate your help on this topic. The website was helpful.

Thank you for your time,
SVViking