Gavin wearing his medal from the District Fair
So, Gavin and his partner, Trayl Grace, won 2nd place in the school's Science Fair. That, of course, meant they had to go to the district competition. After hanging out at Mapleton Jr. High for 5 hours to be judged and then wait for their deliberation, Gavin and Trayl made it into the finals and will be going to the regional fair. To say the least, Gavin's pretty excited. I am happy for them, but I must admit, I was hoping we were done with this whole thing. I think that makes me a bad mom!
FYI: Their project was to test different kinds of soap and see which one kills the most bacteria. Between regular soap, anti-bacterial soap and an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, the sanitizer won.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The Science Guy
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6 comments:
No kidding? The sanitizer beat out the anti-bacterial soap? Well, you learn something new everyday. Thank you very much, Gavin.
Quick question. How did they figure out how much bacteria was killed? Just curious. I'm science illiterate.
And...uh....no. That doesn't make you a bad mommy. That makes you the kind of mommy I like. :-)
I thought it was so cute that he called everyone, what a smarty pants.
In answer to your question...they went to BYU bowling alley (they figured they'd get lots of bacteria there) and randomly asked people if they would help them. Each volunteer pressed eight fingers into the "dirty" side of a petri dish (nutrient jelly included). Then they divided the volunteers into three different groups, one to wash with regular soap, the other with anti-bacterial and the third with sanitizer (the kind with at least 60% alcohol). The volunteers had 20 seconds to scrub and then they pressed their fingers into the "clean" side of the dish.
The boys took all the dishes to the lab and after three days in the incubator, they returned to check on the bacteria. After comparing all the dishes and their growth, the fingers that were cleaned with the sanitizer had the least amount of bacteria on them. There were eight dishes per type of soap, so they got a pretty good gathering. They think they'd like to try it again and let people wash for 30 seconds and see what happens.
The good news is sanitizer works better than we thought.
Horray Gavin! Are we surprised? Of course not! Good Luck to them.
What a little smarty bucket! Boy, do I remember science fairs. I always had fun making them although I'm sure my mom didn't as she was the one handwriting in calligraphy for my display. Does that date me or what? So, I completely understand you. Way to go, Gavin!
Congratulations Gavin!!!! We are not surprised. I think I'll go stock up on some sanitizer.
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