My project demonstrates how germs spread from surface to surface using Glo Germ Powder.
Hypothesis: If I were to cut an apple in half on a cutting surface, and place the halves inside a food container (red side down), the germs from the apple will spread to the surfaces (knife, fingers, cutting surface, and the food container).
Experiment: I washed my hands then lightly covered the apple in Glo Germ, just enough to were you can see only a small amount of the dust, but the apple still looked mostly normal. I then cut the apple in half with a kitchen knife, letting the halves fall on my cutting surface (I used a plastic plate). I turned the lights off and examined the apple, my fingers, the knife, and the plate. I took photographs comparing what they looked like normally (lights on) then under the UV light (the photos were perfect!). Then, I placed the halves into the food container with the inside core facing up. This was to demonstrate how germs from the apple were to spread to the container, as if you were going to take the apples to school or work. I removed the apples from the container and examined the container under the UV light. I actually was surprised to find small particles left in the container.
We weren't assessed on the independent variable, dependent variable, and the experiment type, but from what I did, I would say it was a controlled experiment, my apple was the independent variable, and the surfaces where dependent.
My fingers looked like the had dust on them with the lights on but the dust was completely identifiable under the UV light. The apples looked normal but under the UV light, you could see a bunch of the Glo Germ all over it on both halves. There were also individual Glo Germ particles on the inside of the apple. The plate I used, there were spots around the plate, but in the middle you could see a Glo Germ print from where the apple sat before I cut it, the knife didn't have anything on the right side, the edge of the blade had a cluster in the middle, and the left side had some particles. After I removed the apples from the food container, there were small individual particles and a cluster of dust on the left side. I'm still thinking of where I should tie this in with the food poisoning. I was thinking I would just have in the conclusion section maybe some of the research and an explanation of how food poisoning can occur from cross-contamination, or maybe I should just present it orally.http://www.mediafire.com/?3jx1ulbgxq8gjqq
This is the download link to a zip file with my science pictures in the it. I had to delete 3 of them to meet the mediafire size limit. The pictures were shot in 8 Megapixels so they're quite big.