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Bacteria

by Ryan

My topic for the Kids Inquiry Conference is bacteria growth. I chose this topic because I find bacteria very interesting and the results often very suprising.

The question I am trying to answer is, what happens if you streak germs from orange juice, apple juice, and milk? Will the germs combine and get really big? I thought of this question because I am fascinated with different types of bacteria.

Bacteria are very small livng things. They live on your skin, in your mouth, nose, lungs, intestines, in the air, water, and in the soil. They can protect you from the tiny living things that can harm you. Some bacteria destroys healthy cells and can cause diseases such as food poisoning. There are thousands of different types of bacteria. To my knowledge, no one has ever researched my topic before.

I began my research by first streaking the blood plate with apple juice, orange juice, and milk. On day 2, the germs started to grow. The milk, orange juice, and apple juice all combined. On day 3, the germs grew bigger and the germs were growing closer together. On day 4, the germs grew three times their original size.

I discovered from my research that bacteria does combine with other bacteria and grows in a short period of time. I also learned that even though you can't see bacteria, it is still there. I thought at first that the milk grew more bacteria than apple juice. This statement is not true because milk grew less bacteria than apple juice.

I suggest next year that students might want to research bacteria that caused food poisoning. You can do alot more research and experiments on this topic. I would have liked to have had more time to research disease causing bacteria. The study of bacteria is fascinating and I hope to do more research on bacteria next year.

Bibliography

Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 1996 Cd-Rom The World of Science 1995, pp40-41

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