Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi,
I am working on a project where I am experimenting with bacteria growth in agar in petri dishes.
I would like to know what are the effects of passing electric current through the agar. Will it affect the growth of the bacteria?
I am doing this by placing a metal wire in the agar where I run 5 volts through.

Thank you for your help.

Here are a couple research studies about electricity and bacterial growth that you might find helpful.

http://www.aanos.org/documents/Eff%20of ... 0Grwth.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8308318

A similar project was done in the 2009 California State science fair project.
http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/Current/Projects/J1722.pdf

Michael

Thanks a lot!
These are very helpful indeed.

Yann