Disinfectant Efficiency
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SCIENCE CONCEPT
Microbiology is defined as the branch of science responsible for studying microorganisms.. Microbiology is used to study bacteria, viruses, fungi, algae, protozoa, etc. Microbiology is typically said to have been invented in 1857 when Louis Pasteur proved that microorganisms caused liquid fermentation. Since then, microbiology has contributed to a number of important scientific developments like the invention of vaccines and genetic coding.
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APPLICATION
Microbiology is incredibly important to study. Without microbiology, we would not have antibiotics or vaccines. Microbiology allows us to learn about the smallest aspects of God’s creation. It is easy to see why microbiology is considered so important, and studied by so many people worldwide.
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CAREER
Microbiologists study microscopic organisms like bacteria, viruses, algae, and fungi. They mostly work in various office, laboratory, and educational environments, but microbiologists aren’t limited to these settings and also frequently work in other, more specialized settings. Some famous microbiologists include Louis Pastuer and Marjory Stephenson.
A microbiologist typically needs a four year degree in microbiology or a related field like biology. Microbiologists make roughly $45,000-$81,000 annually. People wanting to enter this career typically start off in a microbiology internship or as a microbiology technician for a lab. |
SCIENTIST
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was born on October 24, 1632 in Delft, Netherlands. He started as a fabric merchant before becoming a scientist. Although he was a tradesman with no university degrees, Leeuwenhoek went on to be known as the “Father of Microbiology”. Leeuwenhoek designed hundreds of microscopes and was the first to discover protists and bacteria.
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ESSAY
Disinfectants are used every day in school, office, and home settings. We trust disinfectants to make sure that we live in clean environments, and sometimes we trust these brands based on simply an exterior design or hearing someone you trust say they frequently use it. Everyone has a disinfectant they prefer, whether it be Clorox, Lysol, or a specific natural based disinfectant. But since every brand claims to be the best at killing germs, it can be hard to tell which one really does the best job at disinfecting surfaces. For my experiment, I chose to test disinfectants based on their efficiency at killing bacteria.
To test the cleaners, I wanted to create a surface that disinfectants would typically be used on. I created this environment by smudging lunch meat on a cutting board. I divided the cutting board into six sections in order to accurately determine the specific area I tested each product on. I selected a few common disinfecting products to test: Mrs. Meyers, dish soap, Pine-Sol, Lysol, and Clorox. These are all products that I frequently use and see used to clean a number of surfaces. After allowing the bacteria to sit on the cutting board for a day, I put a small amount of each cleaner in a cup and numbered them one through six. I dipped a cotton swab in each numbered cup and thoroughly cleaned the corresponding section of the cutting board. After allowing the cleaner to dry on the cutting board, I collected three samples for each section of the cutting board and swabbed them on petri dishes labeled 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, etc. I placed the petri dishes on a cookie sheet in a warm place and allowed them time to grow.
Over time, bacteria began to grow. I observed a few kinds of bacteria growing on the petri dishes:
The majority of colonies grew on the petri dishes where I tested Mrs. Meyers multi-surface cleaner and Pine-Sol. The kinds of colonies that grew on these trays were the reddish ones with a white center (mostly on the Pine-Sol trays) and the green/gray ones with white exteriors (mostly on the Mrs. Meyers trays). These results were especially interesting to me as these two cleaners are ones very frequently used around me. In my house we use a lot of Mrs. Meyers products, especially the multi surface cleaner that I tested in this experiment. Pine-Sol is what my family uses to clean our in-home daycare and is also frequently used at businesses that I visit.
A few things went wrong while performing this experiment, for example, I waited a little too long to begin the experiment. The colonies took longer to grow than I anticipated, causing me to have some results that weren’t totally conclusive. In addition to this, before performing my experiment, a few of the cups got mixed up, forcing me to re-measure each disinfectant into new cups.
A lot of things came easier than I expected while performing and preparing to perform this experiment. For example, It was incredibly easy to find the products that I wanted to test because of the fact that popular cleaners are usually grouped together at the store, and you can easily see which products people are buying more based of the amount of stock left on the shelves and the number of people around you who are buying popular cleaning products.
This experiment helped me to realize that the products frequently used around me aren’t always the best options. Seeing specific brands being used around me doesn’t always mean that those products are the best option when it comes to disinfecting. I also learned a lot about the correct process for scientific experiments. I’ve done a lot of science experiments both in science classes and away from science classes since I was younger. After reading a guide on how to do this project, I noticed some things that I normally wouldn’t have done during my experiment that were crucial to getting the correct results. There were a lot of extra measures I took in order to not contaminate the results that I normally wouldn’t have thought to do, like making sure to use tweezers to apply the disinfectants, or cleaning the tweezers in between use of each of the tested cleaners.
In conclusion, after testing Mrs. Meyers, dish soap, Pine-Sol, Lysol, and Clorox, Mrs. Meyers and Pine-Sol were the least effective at cleaning the bacteria off of the cutting board. It's safe to say that after seeing cleaners I choose to use every day be less efficient than other options, I’ll be more aware of what I’m buying to clean and disinfect. Especially as using an ineffective cleaner could have serious health repercussions. I had a great time doing this experiment and learning about the products we trust with our health every day. This experiment has helped me learn about the necessary precautions to take when performing a scientific experiment, and will help my results to be more accurate when testing and experimenting in the future.
To test the cleaners, I wanted to create a surface that disinfectants would typically be used on. I created this environment by smudging lunch meat on a cutting board. I divided the cutting board into six sections in order to accurately determine the specific area I tested each product on. I selected a few common disinfecting products to test: Mrs. Meyers, dish soap, Pine-Sol, Lysol, and Clorox. These are all products that I frequently use and see used to clean a number of surfaces. After allowing the bacteria to sit on the cutting board for a day, I put a small amount of each cleaner in a cup and numbered them one through six. I dipped a cotton swab in each numbered cup and thoroughly cleaned the corresponding section of the cutting board. After allowing the cleaner to dry on the cutting board, I collected three samples for each section of the cutting board and swabbed them on petri dishes labeled 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, etc. I placed the petri dishes on a cookie sheet in a warm place and allowed them time to grow.
Over time, bacteria began to grow. I observed a few kinds of bacteria growing on the petri dishes:
- Large greenish-grayish colonies with a white exterior
- Small yellow/orange colonies
- Medium sized cream colored colonies
- Reddish colonies with a white center
The majority of colonies grew on the petri dishes where I tested Mrs. Meyers multi-surface cleaner and Pine-Sol. The kinds of colonies that grew on these trays were the reddish ones with a white center (mostly on the Pine-Sol trays) and the green/gray ones with white exteriors (mostly on the Mrs. Meyers trays). These results were especially interesting to me as these two cleaners are ones very frequently used around me. In my house we use a lot of Mrs. Meyers products, especially the multi surface cleaner that I tested in this experiment. Pine-Sol is what my family uses to clean our in-home daycare and is also frequently used at businesses that I visit.
A few things went wrong while performing this experiment, for example, I waited a little too long to begin the experiment. The colonies took longer to grow than I anticipated, causing me to have some results that weren’t totally conclusive. In addition to this, before performing my experiment, a few of the cups got mixed up, forcing me to re-measure each disinfectant into new cups.
A lot of things came easier than I expected while performing and preparing to perform this experiment. For example, It was incredibly easy to find the products that I wanted to test because of the fact that popular cleaners are usually grouped together at the store, and you can easily see which products people are buying more based of the amount of stock left on the shelves and the number of people around you who are buying popular cleaning products.
This experiment helped me to realize that the products frequently used around me aren’t always the best options. Seeing specific brands being used around me doesn’t always mean that those products are the best option when it comes to disinfecting. I also learned a lot about the correct process for scientific experiments. I’ve done a lot of science experiments both in science classes and away from science classes since I was younger. After reading a guide on how to do this project, I noticed some things that I normally wouldn’t have done during my experiment that were crucial to getting the correct results. There were a lot of extra measures I took in order to not contaminate the results that I normally wouldn’t have thought to do, like making sure to use tweezers to apply the disinfectants, or cleaning the tweezers in between use of each of the tested cleaners.
In conclusion, after testing Mrs. Meyers, dish soap, Pine-Sol, Lysol, and Clorox, Mrs. Meyers and Pine-Sol were the least effective at cleaning the bacteria off of the cutting board. It's safe to say that after seeing cleaners I choose to use every day be less efficient than other options, I’ll be more aware of what I’m buying to clean and disinfect. Especially as using an ineffective cleaner could have serious health repercussions. I had a great time doing this experiment and learning about the products we trust with our health every day. This experiment has helped me learn about the necessary precautions to take when performing a scientific experiment, and will help my results to be more accurate when testing and experimenting in the future.
