Testing for Microbes in Our Everyday Life - Elevator Button {Lab 1 - May 12, 2015}

     Our next experiment consisted of gathering a sample of/from something in the environment. Elisabeth and I decided to test an elevator button to see if we could discover any microbes living on the surface.

Materials:

      To complete this experiment, we needed a sterile swab dipped in broth and an Agar plate. 

Procedure:

      After deciding where to take a sample, we went to the elevator and dipped a sterile cotton swab into broth to obtain a sample from one of the buttons. We decided to gather the sample from the first floor button inside the elevator. After swabbing the button, we reentered the lab and rubbed the swab onto the surface of the agar plate. The agar plate was then labeled and placed into a room temperature environment.

After 24 hrs - no bacteria

Results:

     After 24 hours, there were no visible microbes growing on the agar surface. We placed the sample back into the room temperature environment and after another 24 hours, some bacteria had begun growing.

Colonies of bacteria
growing after 48+ hrs

Bacteria growing on the
surface after 48 hrs

Conclusion:

     We originally thought that the elevator button was "clean" because of the lack of growing bacteria, but after giving the sample  48 hours, our sample began growing bacteria. Though the sample did not immediately begin to grow, the elevator button still held some slow growing bacteria. This experiment showed us how microbes are everywhere and we should be extremely conscious and aware of their presence as future nurses.