My prediction is that everyday objects will be dirtier than toilet seats, because people touch and use items like a light switch or their phone more often than a toilet seat. I believe a toilet will have the least bacteria because only people’s upper legs touch the toilet seat, and their upper legs are covered by clothing during the day.

I found that brass is a disinfectant to germs, making it harder for bacteria to grow. I also researched about were, and how germs grow, along with what causes more germs to grow. I also researched what materials are in a Loony from 2000.

The variables are the different sites that samples were taken from culturing I used brand new swabs for each site, used the same agar and petrie dishes.

Label each agar filled petri dish with the name of the surface being tested. The labels are: coin, control, downstairs toilet seat, upstairs toilet seat, basement light switch, cell phone, railing, backpack, door knob, and kitchen sponge. Leave the control dish unopened so it can show if any bacteria grows without being touched.Using a clean cotton swab, gently rub one end of the swab on the surface being tested for a few seconds.Then carefully rub the same end of the swab onto the surface of the agar in the correctly labelled petri dish. Use a new clean swab for each surface.After placing the sample on the agar, put the lid back on the petri dish right away. Tape the dish closed. Do not open the dish again during the experiment. Throw away the used swab.Place all the sealed petri dishes in a warm area. Leave them there for 48 hours. Observe the dishes once a day without opening them and record any changes you see. After one to two weeks, record your final observations. Count and compare the number of visible bacteria colonies growing in each dish.

After 48 hours, I couldn’t see growth in any of the petri dishes. This could have been because the dishes were not kept in a warm enough place. Bacteria grow best in warm temperatures, so the dishes were left longer to give bacteria time to grow. By Day 3, the kitchen sponge petri was growing. The growth was in a fuzzy zig zag pattern across the agar instead of round clusters. This might mean mold instead of bacteria. Bacteria usually grow in small, smooth, round dots. Mold usually looks fluffy or hairy and can spread in lines. By now most of the dishes were growing bacteria. Some colonies were yellow and smooth. Others were white and fuzzy or purple and pink. Yellow and smooth colonies are most likely bacteria. Lots of common bacteria looks white, cream, or yellow. White fuzzy growth is more likely mold because mold grows upward and looks fluffy. Purple or pink colonies might be bacteria that naturally have color. For this experiment, I only counted the smooth, round colonies as bacteria. The fuzzy growth was recorded as mold and was not included in the bacteria totals. This helped make sure the comparison was fair. There was no growth in the coin (a 2020 Canadian loonie) petri. This might be because the looney is made of brass and steel, and brass has antimicrobial

Toilet seats are usually thought of the most gross object in your entire house, but this experiment proves that every day objects can be just as dirty, or even dirtier then toilet seats.

This experiment was to find out if toilet seats are dirtier than everyday objects by comparing how much bacteria grew from each surface. The results showed that toilet seats were not the dirtiest surfaces tested. When only the smooth, round bacterial colonies were counted, the upstairs toilet seat had the most bacteria. But, some everyday objects, like the door knob and backpack, also had a lot of bacteria. The downstairs toilet seat had less bacteria than several everyday objects. The coin showed no bacterial growth. This could be because the coin contains copper, which can kill bacteria. This experiment shows that everyday objects can be just as dirty, or even dirtier, than toilet seats. Germs are not only found in bathrooms. They are found on many surfaces that people touch often. Washing hands and cleaning frequently touched objects is important to help stop the spread of germs.

this experiment can help prove that washing your hands, and cleaning object often can help reduce the chance of getting sick, and stop germs from spreading.

In the book I used it said to keep the agar filled petrie dishes in a warm area and use a thermometer to check if it was the right temperature. after that it said that it would take 2 days for the bacteria to grow, but mine did not. I think this happend because bacteria grows in warm areas, and I just kept it in my living room, instead of keeping it by an ear vent like suggested.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “Understand where germs live and how they spread” https://www.cdc.gov/project-firstline/training/infographic/ National Science Foundation What are Cells? https://youtu.be/ex0x-w00Uy4 What is a virus? https://youtu.be/7YTOdR-ABKE Book Some cool sience fair idease for kids Margles,S.(2011). Mithbusters.SCOLASIC Mayo Clinic “Germs: Understand and Protect Against Bacteria and Viruses.” https://www.mayoclinic.org Canadian Mint https://www.coinsunlimited.ca/circulation-coins/all-canadian-circulation-coins-lots-rolls/2020-canadian-1-dollar-common-loon-coin-bu

My mom otherwise known as Miranda, helped print out the papers on my tri-fold. she also bought the tri-fold, and supervised me when I hot glued. Along with my grandma, and grampa who were sporting me.