Raj,+J.

Topic: Keep Your Hands to Yourself! I. **__Problem:__** Which type of hand soap/solution works best at killing bacteria?

- 10 Nutrient Agar Plates - 4 Petri Dishes - Ecoli K-12 Broth - Dial Antibacterial Hand Soap (liquid) - Germ X Hand Sanitizer (gel) - Dial Glycerin Soap (bar) - Gloves - 10mL x 1/10 Serological Pipettes - Automatic Pipetter - Masking Tape - Blue Sharpie Peel Off Marker - Model 12-140 Incubator - Autoclave Culture Media
 * __II. Materials:__**

1. Gather materials: 2. Label Nutrient Agar Plates (type of soap, date, initial) 3. Conduct four different tests (no soap, antibacterial liquid soap, hand sanitizer, and bar soap). 4. For each test, conduct 3 separate trials and label the trial #’s on the Nutrient Agar Plates. 5. Keep the Agar plates closed until it is ready to be used. 6. The following steps were repeated for each test: i. Place 1mL of Ecoli solution in a Petri dish ii. Wear gloves and then contaminate three fingers (index, middle, and ring finger) by touching the Ecoli solution. iii. Apply soap (antibacterial liquid soap, hand sanitizer, or bar soap) on the contaminated fingers iv. Then press the soapy fingers onto the Nutrient Agar Plates. v. Close the lid and use masking tape to seal the lid in place vi. Invert Nutrient Agar Plates and place it in the incubator. The plates are inverted so that the water in the lid won’t cause the bacteria to spread. The incubator is set at 37 degree Celsius. 7. For the test (no soap), skip step 6, iii 8. Left the remaining Ecoli solution in Autoclave Culture Media to use standard procedures to kill the bacteria
 * __III. Procedure:__**


 * __IV Hypothesis:__** I believe the antibacterial hand soap will work slightly better in killing bacteria than the other types of cleaning solutions. I also believe that washing hands thoroughly with water leads to better results.


 * __V. Data:__**


 * __VI. Conclusion:__** I conclude that the most effective germ-killing hand solution is Germ X Hand Sanitizer.


 * Day 1 (March 16th):** I have chosen the topic for my science fair project. My project has been approved by Mrs. Kots, and I am in the process of getting the materials together. I have two months to experiment which type of hand soap/solution works best at killing bacteria and collect all the data.


 * Day 2 (March 17th):** Today I ordered petri dishes and ready-made nutrient agar for my project. I cannot wait to begin my experiment!


 * Day 3 (March 18th):** I received the nutrient agar and petri dishes in the mail today.


 * Day 5 (March 20th):** I am going to Walmart to buy soaps and various materials for my project.


 * Day 6 (March 21st):** Today I went to Cheltenham High School's labratory and, with the help of Mrs. Fellapleier (a science teacher), I conducted my experiment. I used science equipments I had never heard of. One of these instruments is a pipette, which I used to dispense Ecoli onto my petri dishes. I accidently flooded one of my nutrient agar plates with Ecoli and couldn't complete my thrid trial for hand sanitizer. My contaminated petri dishes are currently being kept in an incubator. In about 24 hours, I should be able to see my results.


 * Day 8 (March 23rd):** I am unable to go to Cheltenham High School to see my results today, so I typed up my procedure. I wonder what happened to the bacteria.


 * Day 9 (March 24th):** I went to the lab to observe my nutrient agar plates and was very surprised! The bar soap plates had many white colonies of bacteria, the antibacterial liquid soap had little, and the hand sanitizer had hardly any! I was amazed when I saw that the hand sanitizer plate was nearly spotless! Also, I was shocked with the results of using bar soap because I thought it was basically soap, just in bar shape. I took many pictures of my results, and am deeply thinking about how I am going to further expand on this experiment next time.


 * Day 13 (March 28th):** Today I published my new and improved procedure on the science wiki.


 * Day 26 (April 10th):** I went to Michael's to buy my trifold board. I really should start my abstract since I have all the information that I need!


 * Day 34 (April 18th):** I edited my wiki and wrote my acknowledgement, thanking the people who made my project possible.


 * Day 36 (April 20th):** Today I began my abstract. So far, the introduction is complete.


 * Day 37: (April 21st):** I finally finished my abstract! Now I have to create graphs, develop my pictures, and construct my board. I have less than a month until this project is due!


 * Day 38 (April 22nd):** I created my graphs today! All I have to do is set up my board and develop my pictures.


 * Day 41 (April 25th):** I went to Rite Aid today to develop my pictures. I'm surprised how well the pictures turned out! I also bought a small journal to write my entries and recordings. Only one more job to go!


 * Day 43 (April 27th):** Once again, I went to Michael's to get some board supplies and decorations. I can't wait to design my board and finish this project!


 * Day 46 (April 30th):** So today I rewrote my materials, procedure, and conclusion with some corrections. Also, I wrote the title of my project on the board. Just beginning my science board took a lot of effort!


 * Day 47 (May 1st):** May already! These last two months have gone by too fast! I did a lot of work with my board today.


 * Day 48 (May 2nd):** Well, my bar soap ingredient label wants to play a round of hide-and-seek with me and, sadly, it's winning.


 * Day 52 (May 6th):** I have less than a week until this project is due! It's okay though because I finished almost everything. Tomorrow I'm going to put some finishing touches to my board and I hope to find my bar soap ingredient label!


 * Day 53 (May 7th):** Finally, I finished my board! All I have to do now is copy my journal entries onto my journal. I still need to find the bar soap label, but other than that, I'm all set!

I would like to recognize the following people that helped make my science experiment possible:
 * __Acknowledgements__**
 * Mrs. Fellapleier for helping me conduct my experiment and supervising me.
 * Ms. Sheridan for letting me use her laboratory and science equipment at Cheltenham High School.
 * My mom for driving me to and from the high school, buying me all the materials I needed, and for supporting me.
 * Mrs. Kots for suggesting how to conduct my project and for answering my questions.