The Amount of Bacterial Growth in Different Types of Phones

Amber Strickland, Sarah Berliner, Ashleigh Hinesley, Heather Gorisek

Abstract:
The purpose of this lab was to find out which type of phone has the most bacteria. We swabbed a cell phone with buttons, a cell phones screen protector, a phones screen under the screen protector, and a home phone. To find the results, we followed the scientific method. First we created a hypothesis,then researched and conducted the experiment,and finally, we analyzed the results and created a conclusion. This was our hypothesis: If different types of phones are swabbed and tested for bacterial growth, then the smartphones screen protector will have the highest amount of bacterial growth.Our hypothesis was not proven, thus making it an invalid statement.Our results for the actual phone screen and phone with buttons was inconclusive.The home phone had the most bacteria, which could have been caused by two things. It had much thicker agar than any other plate, and it was in the incubator three days longer than the others.

Problem/Purpose:
We performed this lab to find out how much bacteria different types of phones have.We tested the screen protector of a smartphone,an actual phone screen,a home phone, and a phone with button keys on it. We wanted to be able to compare how much bacteria a smartphones screen protector had compared to the actual smartphone screen. We also wanted to see how much bacteria a phone with keypad buttons had on it compared to a screen protector for a smartphone. We also wanted to see if there were more bacteria on a cell phone compared to a home phone.

Hypothesis:
If different types of phones are swabbed and tested for bacterial growth, then the smartphones screen protector will have the highest amount of bacterial growth. Our independent variable was different types of phone screens (home phone, smart phone with screen protector, smart phone without screen protector, and cell phone with keypad buttons). Our dependant variable was the amount of bacterial growth each agar plate showed.

Procedure:
1. First we opened the cotton swab

2. Then we started to swab the phone, rubbing and twirling the cotton swab on the phone screen and buttons. 3.After that we opened the petri dish and rubbed the cotton swab on the dish in a zigzag motion, making sure to not tear the agar. 4.Then repeated steps 1-3 until we swabbed every type of phone that we wanted to test 5.After that we closed up the petri dishes and put them in the incubator overnight, upside down, so that if there was any bacterial growth, there would not be condensation resulting from cellular respiration, dripping on the agar. 6.The next day we looked at all of our results and counted the number of colonies, as well as compared each type of phone, and took pictures

Data table:
Number of colonies Home phone 53 small yellow 6 large white Description There were lots of colonies. There were big yellow colonies and little white colonies. The petri dish had more agar in it than the rest, it was also left in the incubator a lot longer(3 days) than the others. Picture of the petri dish

Screen Protector

7-8 small white colonies

The screen protector had a few colonies, however it was difficult to see some of them.

Actual phone screen

2-3 small white colonies

There were only about 2 colonies. The results were inconclusive because there wasn't enough agar on the petri dish.

Phone with button keys

1-2 small white colonies

There was little to no bacteria found (only 1-2 colonies). The results were inconclusive because there wasn't enough agar on this plate. As a result, bacteria did not grow very well.

Results:
The results we saw were inconclusive for the actual phone screen and the phone with buttons because the petri dishes did not have thick enough agar to grow the bacteria. There were a few colonies in the actual phone screen and the phone with button keys. The smart phone screen protector didn't have much bacteria, most likely because the agar was quite thin. We believe that it could have grown much more bacteria if the agar was thicker. In the screen protectors petri dish, there were a couple more colonies than the others, probably because there was a little more agar than the others, and because you can not clean a screen protector very well.The home phone had the thickest agar and it sat in the incubator the longest (three days longer than the others), so it grew the most bacteria. The home phone had the most bacteria colonies which consisted of 53 small yellow colonies, as well as six large white colonies.

Research: What is a bacteria? Bacteria are tiny living microorganisms that are neither plants nor animals. They belong to a group all by themselves. Bacteria are single-cell microorganisms, usually a few micrometers in length who normally exist together in millions, in colonies Bacteria come in three main shapes. They are spherical and rod shaped. Spherical bacteria are usually the simplest. Bacteria shaped like this are called cocci (singular coccus). Bacteria that are rod shaped are known as bacilli (singular bacillus).Some of the rod-shaped bacteria are curved; these are known as vibrio. Spiral shaped bacteria are known as spirilla (singular spirillus).If their coil is very tight they are known as spirochetes. Bacteria feed themselves in a number of ways. Heterotrophic bacteria eat other organisms. Most of them are saprobes, they absorb dead organic material, such as decomposing flesh. Some of these bacteria kill their host, while others help them. Autotrophic bacteria make their own food. This could be done by photosynthesis - they use sunlight, C02, and water to make their food. Bacteria that use sunlight to synthesize their food are called photoautotrophs. These include the cyanobacteria. Other photoautotrophs do not produce oxygen, such as heliobacteria, purple non-sulfur bacteria, purple sulfur bacteria, and green sulfur bacteria. Other bacteria do it by chemosynthesis - they use C02, water, and chemicals to synthesize their food. called nitrogen fixers. They are commonly found in legume roots and ocean vents. Bacteria are prokaryotic organisms (no nucleus) that reproduce asexually.Bacterial reproduction most commonly occurs by a kind of cell division called binary fission. Binary fission results in the formation of two bacterial cells that are genetically identical. Binary fission is an effective way for bacteria to reproduce, however it does introduce problems. Since the cells produced through this type of reproduction are identical, they are all susceptible to the same types of antibiotics. Through bacterial recombination, bacteria can gain genetic variation by incorporating genes from other bacteria. In order to incorporate some genetic variation, bacteria use a process called recombination. Bacterial recombination can be accomplished through conjugation, transformation, or transduction. During conjugation, one bacterium connects itself to another through a protein tube structure called a pilus. Genes are transferred from one bacterium to the other through this tube. Some bacteria are capable of taking up DNA from their environment. These DNA remnants most commonly come from dead bacterial cells. During transformation, the bacterium binds the DNA and transports it across the bacterial cell membrane. The new DNA is then incorporated into the bacterial cell's DNA.Transduction is a type of recombination that involves the exchanging of bacterial DNA through bacteriophages. The bacteria can be grown on plates, using agar. Agar is a seaweed derivative and has many uses and types. One type is blood agar. It contains blood cells from an animal, and most bacteria will grow on this, but it can be harmful to people because of the blood. There is also nutrient agar, which is what we used. It will grow the largest number of different types of microbes including fungi and bacteria. MacConkey Agar is

an agar upon which only Gram-negative bacteria can grow. E.coli will grow into red colonies, because there is a pH indicator present. MacConkey agar powder comes in two versions: one with the sugar lactose in it, and one without any added sugars. While doing this lab, we used aseptic technique. Aseptic technique is a means of performing lab work that greatly reduces the risk of contamination. Doctors and surgeons use this technique in hopes of reaching asepsis; the absence of bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms. We washed our hands after swabbing, and we did not reopen the plates once they were swabbed. This is an example of aseptic technique.

Conclusion: We came up with the idea to do this sampling because teens are always on their phones and not so much on home phones ,so we figured that that the cell phone screen protector would have the most bacteria. Also most teen put screen protectors on their phones so we figured that we should test a screen protector to see which had the most bacteria the actual phone screen or the screen protector. We started the lab and created a hypothesis that said we believed that the screen protector would have the most bacteria. We swabbed the actual phone screen, the screen protector, and a phone with buttons on it. Then one of our group members took a petri dish home to swab her home phone. Meanwhile, we put ours in the incubator and took the petri dishes out the next morning. The home phone petri dish was put in there that day ,but was left in there for several days and not just one day like the others. So, we couldnt get accurate data because the time in the incubator was not constant. Also in the screen protector,actual phone screen, and the phone with buttons didn't have enough agar in it to have very much bacterial growth. When we got the results we found out the home phone had the most bacterial growth; most likely because it had very thick agar and was left in the incubator much longer than the others. Our hypothesis stated at the beginning of the experiment was wrong; it was actually the home phone that had the most bacteria. We had a lot of errors in our experiment in that there wasn't enough agar and we left one in longer than the others. The next logical step we would take would be to retest all these again and make sure everything is constant. Then we would test different types of phones besides the iphone and all the different cases for the phones to see if the phone cases have more bacteria than the actual phone. We would see if the case help protects the phone from bacteria. Also, we could test different types of home phones. We would test the sliding phones with the keyboards and the phones that just have a keyboard with nothing covering or sliding up to reveal it. What we learned was the home phone had the most bacteria but the data was inconclusive because some things weren't constant. To make this lab better we would make sure we had enough agar for bacterial growth and make sure the time in the incubator would be constant. Overall, we thought

this lab was educational, and now we know that home phones do harbor much more bacteria than what everyone thinks.