How much bacteria does food pick up?

Data:

Question:

Which food item picks up the most bacteria cookie, grape, or chicken?

Hypothesis:

My hypothesis is that the grape will pick up more bacteria because its coating is a little slippery and wet so I think that those elements will make it pick up the most bacteria.

Procedure:

1. Gather petri dishes a cookie, grape, and chicken.
2. Drop each food on the floor for 5 seconds
3. Take a cotton swab and wipe the food down with the swab
4. Place them under a incubator
5. Check every 24 hours to see the progress.
6. Count the colonies of the bacteria on the petri dish
7. Repeat steps 2-6

My control is to only swab the plate with water

The chicken picked up the most bacteria in all. This proved my hypothesis wrong because I predicted that the grape would pick up the most. I learned that it does not matter how long the food is on the floor it only matters where the food landed. If I were to redo this experiment again I would make sure I pick the food up more accurately and I'd make sure that I put the food in close spots.

Abstract:

The Five Second Rule

Emma Cleffi

I wanted to research how much bacteria was picked up on the floor after 5 and 15 seconds with cookies, grapes, and chicken. My hypothesis was that the grape would pick up the most bacteria on the floor. I thought the grape would catch the most bacteria because its coating is a little slippery and wet so I think that those elements will make it pick up the most bacteria.

To do my experiment I had to start by creating one that had not yet touched the floor or food as an example without anything. Then I had to just swab the plain food that had not yet touched the floor so I would know how much bacteria there really was. Next I needed to start dropping the food on the floor. After that I then had to swab the dirty food after 5 seconds then 15. Then I had to take the swabs and move them back and forth on the petri dish. Once that was done I sealed the petri dish together and put it in an incubator.

From my data there is not much of a five second rule. It only matters where the food landed and that affects my results. But, the chicken overall for both numbers collected the most amount of bacteria. The chicken on the floor for 5 seconds was 22 groups of bacteria and the number of groups for 15 seconds was 14 groups which both are the biggest number of all the plates.

Overall the chicken picked up the most bacteria. My hypothesis was wrong and it was because the chickens coating was to a little wet in some areas and they made it easier to pick up the bacteria. I learned that it did not matter how long the food was on the floor. it mattered where it landed. If I did this experiment a second time I would make sure it was near the same spot and that it was timed a little more accurately. Although there were improvements I did keep this experiment pretty stable by using a stopwatch.

My Project:

Conclusion:

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