Ben

Working with Y-Lynn and Natasha

__Which solution is more effective at limiting bacterial growth ? (Saturated NaCl and saturated C12H22O11 solution @ room temp)__

Aim- To find how the concentration of a solution affects the rate of bacterial growth. Independent variable- concentration of solution Dependent variable- number of resulting bacteria colonies

Background- diffusion is a molecular process in which solutes travel from a hypertonic environment to a hypotonic one until a dynamic equilibrium is reached. Osmosis is a cellular process that involves the travel of water between environments through a membrane instead of the solutes. There is a "home remedy" that states gargling salt water will help cure a sore throat that is caused by a bacterial infection (i.e. strep throat), and another that recommends honey. However, in our experiment, we hypothesize that the concentration of sucrose in the honey is what gives it the anti-bacterial property.

what we need to figure out: what is in agar jelly

Materials
 * Microscope possibly with computer interface
 * Three petri dishes
 * Three bacterial colonies that are the same size and from the same source
 * Saturated salt solution
 * Saturated sugar solution

Procedure:
 * 1) Grow bacteria cultures (friday)
 * 2) Take preliminary pictures (friday)
 * 3) Coat the bacteria cultures with the different solutions, one with the saturated salt solution, one with the saturated sugar solution and one with distilled water. (tuesday)
 * 4) take pictures once a day (lunch/ class) tues.-fri.
 * 5) clean up
 * 6) analyze data