Published on Sep 28, 2024
The objective: My objective was to learn if the five-second rule applies to dry food dropped on the floor. I thought that the dry food would have the same results as the wet food (Wet food was tested last year) .
The materials used for this project were; graham crackers, a watch with a second hand, 40 Petri dishes, approximately 45 sterilized gloves, a black sharpie pen, a gallon-sized Zip-loc bag, agar, three different ground surfaces: grass, sidewalk, and kitchen floor, Q-tips, and a card table.
My procedure was as follows. First I took a few graham crackers and put them in the gallon-sized bag. Then I broke each graham cracker into eighths.
Next I gloved one hand and took a graham cracker out of the bag and swabbed it with a Q-tip. I swabbed the Q-tip in the Petri dish and put the top of the Petri dish back on. I repeated this process 9 more times for the Control Group.
Then I gloved one hand, picked up a graham cracker, and dropped it on the kitchen floor for five seconds. I picked the graham cracker up immediately after five seconds were up, swabbed the side that touched the ground with a Q-tip, and swabbed the Q-tip in the Petri dish. Next, I closed the lid on the Petri dish.
I repeated this process 9 more times for my Kitchen Floor Group. I repeated this process for my grass and sidewalk group, each 10 times. Finally, I taped the lids shut to all of the Petri dishes and placed them on a card table to watch them for 7 days.
After I monitored the Petri dishes for 7 days these were my results.
The results consist of graham crackers (this year's project) and bananas (last year's project).
Graham Crackers; Control 1out of 10, Kitchen Floor 3 out of 10, Sidewalk 7 out of 10, and Grass 10 out of 10 had growth on them.
Bananas; Control 3 out of 10, Kitchen Floor 10 out of 10, Sidewalk 10 out of 10, and Grass 10 out of 10 had growth on them.
The results I uncovered proved that dry food doesn't have the same results as wet food. This knowledge can help everyone have a better understanding of germs and how they could affect us.
This can also help us from getting sick. If we don't pick food up off the ground then that gives us a better chance of not getting sick.
This project is to learn if the five-second rule also applies to dry food dropped on the floor.