My hypothesis is that soap will clean your hands better than water or hand sanitizer. My belief is that soap has ingredients that can break down and wash away germs. Water alone can’t remove as many germs, and hand sanitizer mostly targets bacteria and germs. So, I predict that soap will make hands the cleanest.

• A bar of soap is normally made through a chemical process called saponification
• Saponification is a reaction of fats or oils
• Hand sanitizers contain ingredients that help eliminate microorganisms
• Alcohol-based hand sanitizers typically contains between 60 and 95 percent alcohol, such as ethanol, isopropanol, or n-propanol
• Water contains H2O. H2O contains 2 hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom

• The independent variable is the cleaning method (soap, sanitizer, or just water), and the dependent variable is how clean the hands are afterward
• The controlled variables are things like washing time, how much product you use, and how dirty the hands start

Procedure – Volunteer 1

• Three subjects  which are Water, Sanitizer and Soap will be used by Volunteer 1
• Volunteer 1 will only apply the solvents on their hands for up to a maximum of 10 seconds (short interval of application) Procedure – Volunteer 2 
• Three  substance which are Water, Sanitizer and Soap will be used by Volunteer 2
• Volunteer 2 will apply the solvents on their hands for a minimum of 20 seconds or more (longer interval of application)

Day 1:On day one, there was no clear difference from when I first did the experiment Day 2:  on day 2 there was very little difference; some bacterial growth was seen on the agar plates, but it was limited Day 3: On the third day, there were more bacteria than before. I started to see more growth on the agar plates Day 4: On day four, there was more bacteria growing than before. The bacteria were easier to see on the agar plates. Day 5: On day five, a lot of bacteria were growing. The agar plates had many spots of bacteria covering most of the surface. Day 6: On day six, the agar plates were almost completely covered with bacteria. There was very little empty space left, showing a lot of growth.   

• Soap removed the most germs, sanitizer removed some germs, and water removed the fewest germs
• This shows that soap is the most effective at cleaning, sanitizer is second, and water alone is the least effective.

• Washing your hands with soap and water works the best. Soap helps remove dirt, oil, and germs from your hands
• Hand sanitizer can kill a lot of germs, but it doesn’t clean dirt, so it’s not as good if your hands are really dirty
• Using water can wash away some dirt, but it doesn’t get rid of most germs. So, the safest and cleanest way to wash your hands is with soap and water *

This could be useful to help fight illnesses if people sanitize their hands properly.Schools, Pharmacist and mabye even companies that sell these materials

• The first time I did the experiment, the soap agar plate had fungi growing on it. I think this occurred because it was warm enough for the fungi to start growing, even though soap usually stops germs.

https://sungoldsoaps.com/what-is-a-bar-of-soap-made-of/ https://www.britannica.com/topic/hand-sanitizer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependent_and_independent_variables https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKiHCKycN1I https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/17474-hand-washing chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/patient-safety/how-to-handwash-poster.pdf?sfvrsn=7004a09d_11&download=true https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/how-to-handwash

I would like to give a special thanks to my parents for helping me so much and always supporting me. I would also like to thank Ms. Schmitz for making all of this possible. Lastly, thank you to Ms. Polly and Ms. Tanis for all of your help and encouragement throughout this journey.