Microbes Around Us In Everyday Life
In our world today, humans spend a majority of their lives indoors encountered with a vary of objects that have microorganisms on virtually every surface you come into contact with. The frequent exposure to microorganisms carries a potential risk for disease transmission, sickness and more. Microorganisms, are referred to as microbes, and are extremely tiny organisms that can only be seen under a microscope. Microorganisms include bacteria, fungi, plankton, amoeba and many more making them one of the most diverse and unique organisms.
Microbes are designed with an complex structure, the outer shell is called a capsid and is a protein coat, inside is nucleic acid which ultimately is what leads to sickness starting and spreading. The microbe, when entered the body through either the nose, mouth or even broken skin begins to multiply itself and enter the body cells where it removes its outer shell and the nucleic acid gets mixed up with the human body cell manufacturing factories. Then the cell begins making copies of the microbe and produce viruses which will attack other human body cells. These will ultimately make you sick. The white blood cells produce antibodies that attack and kill the antigens helping fight off the virus.
Although bacteria is found everywhere, many are good for humans as they help with your digestive system and more, although the bad bacteria known as pathogens can cause, tuberculosis, cholera, plague and many more. These Microbes are found in every part of the earth, especially in schools. Over 22 million sick days are taken each year due to the common cold alone, this ultimately inspired me to look into what areas of a school hold the most bacteria and how this impacts the students and teachers at the school. These germs are found in any object you touch especially sink handles, locker padlocks and door knobs. This research inspired me to do the experiment through the use of agar plates.
There are many types of agar plates such as blood agar, chocolate agar, neomycin agar and many more types that contain agar and nutrients. The nutrients allows as a home for microorganisms to grow on making your science experiment more evident in areas affected by bacteria growth. When the microorganisms grow on the petri dish they form colonies, meaning each colony has similar genetic characteris. These agar plates act as a source of growth for bacteria and are kept inside incubators to help bacteria grow more efficiently. Before placed into an incubator, agar plates must be taped on the sides tightly shut and upside down to prevent drops of condensation collecting on the clear surface making the experiment impossible to collect data from. The incubators must be placed in a 37 degree atmosphere as the temperature and conditions affects the amount of bacteria grown. This therefore inspiring me to research and experiment on what objects around the school contain the most bacteria through the use of plastic agar plates.
