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Ethyl Alcohol's Effect on E. coli in Soap

Justin Sotomayor conducted an experiment to test if the amount of ethyl alcohol in homemade soap affects how much E. coli is killed or removed when washing hands. He made three soaps with different amounts of ethyl alcohol and tested them by washing E. coli contaminated hands. After incubating the results, he found almost the same amount of E. coli growth from each soap, disproving his hypothesis that more alcohol would kill more bacteria. He concluded that the amount of ethyl alcohol in the soap did not impact the removal of E. coli as he had predicted.

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Akanksha Tiwari
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22 views1 page

Ethyl Alcohol's Effect on E. coli in Soap

Justin Sotomayor conducted an experiment to test if the amount of ethyl alcohol in homemade soap affects how much E. coli is killed or removed when washing hands. He made three soaps with different amounts of ethyl alcohol and tested them by washing E. coli contaminated hands. After incubating the results, he found almost the same amount of E. coli growth from each soap, disproving his hypothesis that more alcohol would kill more bacteria. He concluded that the amount of ethyl alcohol in the soap did not impact the removal of E. coli as he had predicted.

Uploaded by

Akanksha Tiwari
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

CALIFORNIA STATE SCIENCE FAIR

2004 PROJECT SUMMARY

Name(s) Project Number


Justin A. Sotomayor
J1330
Project Title
Ethyl Alcohol vs. E. coli

Abstract
Objectives/Goals
My objective is to determine if the amount of Ethyl Alcohol in soap will affect the amount of E. coli
killed/removed when washing hands with the soap. My hypothesis is that the more Ethyl alcohol used
when making soap, the more E. coli will be killed/removed.
Methods/Materials
To achieve my objective, I prepared three soaps, each containing 30ml Castor oil, 10ml 40% NaOH, and
100ml saturated NaCl with a different amount of Ethyl Alcohol:10ml,30ml,50ml. To test each soap I
soaked my hand in [Link] suspencion then washed my hands with one soap. After washing, I blotted my
hand on one sheep blood agar plate (commercially made). I repeated this process with the two other soaps
and incubated all plates at 35°C for 24 hours.
I used antibacterial soap in between the process to avoid carry over of bacteria present.
Results
All plates had almost the same amount of E. coli growth. The average growth of E. coli for the 30ml soap
was 1 colony, the 50ml soap was 1 colony, and the 10ml soap was 2 colonies.
Conclusions/Discussion
After several tests and observations I was able to determine that the amount of Ethyl alcohol in each soap
did not affect the amount of E. coli killed/removed, proving my hypothesis incorrect.

Summary Statement
Will the amount of Ethyl alcohol in soap affect the amount of E. coli killed/removed when washing
hands?

Help Received
Used laboratory equipment at Quest Diagnostics under the supervision of Julie Sotomayor,
Microbiologist.

Ap2/04

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