Home experiment: Growing bacteria

[candiishop]

I have to design a home experiment and stimulate thinking about hypotheses, variables, controls, replicates, experiments and conclusions on growing microbes.

 

I'm thinking of boiling a strap of grass (nutrient--- all microbes need basic nutrients which contain the elements required to build proteins etc) and placed it in an enclosed jar for several days and bring the samples to the labs for staining and examination.

 

My control for this experiment will be that all jars will have to be the same and cleaned and sterilised in exactly the same manner and I don’t know what I should write for the hypothesis. Any further suggestions? Please help.

 

Most people in my class are doing bread mold but it's so disgusting when testing it! lol

[Dak]

i'd have thought that a little tub of preservative-free jelly (jello, if your from the us -- although i suppose preservative-free (us) jelly (jam in the uk) would also work) would be a better home-culture-madium.

[DrTom]

I think hypothesis would be like: "I think if all my containers and growth medium are the same then each container will grow the same microbes." Good luck.

[hyebeh]

get gelatin and mix several batches and in each batch (except for your control) but a different antibiotic or a different pH. Something along those lines. You can't come up with a hypothesis until you've come up with your experimental question.