The Effect of Hand Sanitizer on the prevention of bread mold

George Kotsiomitis and Paul Lee
Mr. Menhinick
SNC 2D1
May 22, 2015

Purpose/Question:

* Do Hand Sanitizers Prevent the Growth of Bread Mold?

Background Information:

Through doing research on two main ideas revolving around our science fair topic we could have a knowledgeable hypothesis as well as other things to base our project on. The two main ideas are: what bread mold needs to grow and what ingredient is in hand sanitizer that prevents the growth of bread mold.

Firstly, what are the ideal conditions for bread mold to grow in? Bread with no pesticides is the ideal and most common place for mold to grow in because it provides main nutrients such as flour and water that help the growth or mold. Once the mold gets on the bread these nutrients allow the bread to reproduce and spread. Furthermore, the temperature at which the bread is placed in is a major factor as well. Places where mold grows well is similar to those maintained in most homes. However in the summer seasons the growth of bread mold will be greater because of the rise in temperature. Moisture is the most ideal circumstance that bread mold needs to grow in. Mold requires water to survive and grow, bread mold has the advantage of usually being kept in a bag where the moisture does not evaporate. Therefore since bread naturally contains moistures it provides a suitable growing condition for mold. Secondly, what ingredient is in hand sanitizer that prevents the growth of bread mold? Firstly, the way hand soaps kills bacteria is that it contains active ingredients which consist of either ethonal or isopropanol, both are forms of alcohol. Ethonal and or isopropanol kill most germs on contact. Both ethanol and isopropanol are antiseptics that kill the germs they are in contact with by dissolving their essential protein. Therefore, in a case like bread mold, hand sanitizer will supposedly prevent the ingredients of bread to come in contact with mold. By researching these two topics based on our experiment it gives us more knowledge of our topic and how to proceed.

Citations

* How Does Hand Sanitizer Kill Bacteria? (2013, August 16). Retrieved May 21, 2015, from http://www.livestrong.com/article/88193-hand-sanitizer-kill-bacteria/

* Urbauer, T. (2010, October 10). What Does Bread Mold Need to Grow? Retrieved May 21, 2015, from http://www.ehow.com/facts_7318861_bread-mold-need-grow_.html

Hypothesis:

* If you use spray hand sanitizer on bread than it will prevent the growth of mold.

Materials:

* 6 slices of fresh bread with no preservatives * 6 sealing plastic sandwich bags * Latex or Nitrile gloves * Masking tape * Pen * Knife * Spray bottle * Baking sheet * Camera * Measuring teaspoon * Hand Sanitizer

Procedure:

1. Put the gloves on (Reason is to make sure that no bacteria from your hands get on the bread.) 2. Cut three slices of bread in half to make a total of 6 pieces. 3. Have the 6 sandwich bags ready to use. 4. Put one piece of bread in a sandwich bag and seal it. Label it with masking tape as “sealed, nothing.” 5. Fill a spray bottle with water, and label it “water.” 6. Spray to full sprits of water on each side of the bread, put it in a sandwich bag and seal it. Label it “sealed, water.” 7. Take a teaspoon of sanitizer and lather it on both sides of the bread with a butter knife. 8. Put the bread in a sandwich bag and seal it. Label it “sealed, hand sanitizer.” 9. Put one piece of bread in a sandwich bag and leave it unsealed. Label “unsealed, nothing.” 10. Spray to full sprits of water on each side of the bread, put it in a sandwich bag and leave it unsealed. Label it “unsealed, water.” 11. Take a teaspoon of sanitizer and lather it on both sides of the bread with a butter knife. 12. Put the bread in a sandwich bag and leave it unsealed. Label it “unsealed, hand sanitizer.” 13. Place all six sandwich bags on a baking sheet and move them to a place where there is a constant warm temperature. 14. Leave the bags in the same position for 1-2 weeks. 15. Create a table to record what you see and take pictures throughout the experiment. 16. After you are done the experiment seal all the bags and throw them in the garbage. 17. If there is time it is recommended to do 2 or 3 trials to make sure the data collected is accurate.

Observations:

Trial #1 | Bag Number | Sealed? | Treatment | Scale of mold * | 1 | Sealed | None | 2 | 2 | Sealed | Water | 5 | 3 | Sealed | Hand sanitizer | 1 | 4 | Unsealed | None | 4 | 5 | Unsealed | Water | 6 | 6 | Unsealed | Hand sanitizer | 3 |
*The scale is from 1-6, one being the least bread with mold, five being the most bread with mold.

Trial #2 | Bag Number | Sealed? | Treatment | Scale of mold * | 1 | Sealed | None | 2 | 2 | Sealed | Water | 6 | 3 | Sealed | Hand sanitizer | 1 | 4 | Unsealed | None | 4 | 5 | Unsealed | Water | 5 | 6 | Unsealed | Hand sanitizer | 3 |
*The scale is from 1-6, one being the least bread with mold, five being the most bread with mold.

Trial #2 | Bag Number | Sealed? | Treatment | Scale of mold * | 1 | Sealed | None | 2 | 2 | Sealed | Water | 6 | 3 | Sealed | Hand sanitizer | 1 | 4 | Unsealed | None | 4 | 5 | Unsealed | Water | 5 | 6 | Unsealed | Hand sanitizer | 3 |
*The scale is from 1-6, one being the least bread with mold, five being the most bread with mold.
Calculations: