Problem to be Solved:
Which detergent will decrease bacteria in sponges?
Hypothesis:
My hypothesis is that bacteria would continue to grow in sponges after being treated with water and detergents. With boiling water I thought it would do the best, and I thought Palmolive, Dawn, Joy, and Ajax, would also be effective. I thought Dove would would work the worst.
The reason I believe this is because sponges are known to absorb whatever its used on, so bacteria must be absorbed too. So boiling water should kill all of the bacteria. Palmolive, Dawn, Joy, and Ajax would do the same because they seem to be the most used in households. Dove would be the worst because it seemed milder than the rest.
Procedure:
1] Buy the products.
2] Get some soy agar, heat it up and pour it into petri dishes, then refrigerate.
3] Test sponges for bacteria by getting a sponge and get a sterile cotton ball and wipe the sterile cotton ball on half of the petri dish (this is to make sure the sponge is bacteria free) then label the bottom and put the sponge into bag. Make sure bags are labeled.
4] After results put bag into refrigerator.
5] Then after two days you want to start your second experiment, to see if the detergents increases or decreases bacteria. By doing this let mayonnaise set in a cup for one week with six spoons in it. Then get one spoon and one sponge, take the spoon and rub it on the sponge, then fill up the sink with four cups of hot water and put two tablespoons of detergent in the water. Take the sponge and wash it in the soap and water then rinse it off with cool water. Take a sterile cotton ball rub it on the sponge and then on the other half of the soy agar, label the bottom and let set.
6] Repeat instructions #6 with all the detergents using a new sponge and new petri dish. Except with the boiling water you first boil it and you do not use any detergent.
7] After two days take pictures and data.
8] Then take pictures and data every week.
Materials:
camera
plastic bags
6 petri dishes
soy agar
sterile cotton balls
six sponges
detergents- Joy, Ajax, Palmolive, Dove, and Dawn
tablespoon
cup
water
labels
pen
tea kettle
Conclusion:
My conclusion is that my hypothesis was somewhat correct, as boiling water did the best in decreasing the growth of bacteria in the sponge. The detergents Palmolive, Joy and Dawn did not do as well as I thought they would in decreasing the growth of bacteria in sponges. Dove did the best of all the detergents.
An interesting fact is the Dove being mild still came out to be the best detergent.
Biblical Application:
My project is on bacteria. We have disease because of disease we have death. And death, the Bible tells us, is the result of sin. I chose the verse Romans 5:6 which says, "Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death as the result of sin, so death spread to all men, because all men sinned." This says that if Adam and Eve wouldn't have sinned, we wouldn't have death or disease or disease causing bacteria or any harmful thing in the world. But if Adam and Eve wouldn't have sinned there would still be bacteria but in a good form.
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1st Place, 6th Life Science, ACSI Regional Science Fair