Bacterial Inquiry Planning Sheet

1. Purpose- What substances do you want to test? (at least three): We will test garlic, cloves,
cinnamon, and minced onions. We chose these products because they are more naturally potent
than other varieties of spices. Though they are effective at different levels, we believe we can
successfully kill small portions of our bacteria by separately testing them. After testing each of
them individually, we will then combine different substances/spices to possibly create a stronger
antibacterial substance. We must allow for the fact that there will always be some level of
bacteria, both good and bad.
2. Hypotheses/Predictions- We think that powdered garlic, cloves, cinnamon, or minced onions
might work the best against killing the bacteria and achieving a high clearance level, so to
speak, because of their natural antibacterial properties. Specifically, research has proven that
garlic is approximately one per cent as potent an antibiotic as penicillin (Mendham). The
active ingredient in garlic is allicin, which is a natural antibiotic. Given the fact that penicillin is
extremely effective and has been shown to effectively kill off bacteria; along with allicin, we
anticipate that we will see less bacteria present on the plates that have garlic on them, versus a
control group. While cloves may not be as effective as garlic (they lack allicin), they can be used
to treat a wide variety of diseases; including, but not limited to, digestive diseases (aerophagia,
lack of appetite, vomiting, dizziness, and intestinal worms), respiratory diseases (bronchitis,
colds, cough, sore throat, and altitude sickness), and fungi found in the foot and nails. As with
garlic, we can safely assume that a high level of clearance will be present, both on the agar and
the petri dish. Cinnamon, the final spice that we will test, also has been found to have a high
level of antibacterial properties. ....a cinnamon oil solution was able to kill common
infections.many found in hospitals.some. infections are MRSA and
streptococcus.cinnamon oil of 10% or less strength was able to fight various strains of
bacteria.resistant to conventional antibiotics (www.benefitsfromcinnamon.com). Since we
dont know exactly what pathogen we are trying to eliminate from our plates, it is best for us to
test at least one natural antibiotic that can fight bacteria that are resistant to most antibiotics.
3. Methods- Draw a labeled picture of your experimental design. Describe what your procedure
will be. Get Okd by Mrs. D before you move on! We will first obtain E. coli bacteria from the
incubator. Next, we will prepare four different solutions (minced onions, powdered cloves,
powdered garlic, and cinnamon). After that, we will obtain four different plates and plate E. coli
on each of them. Then we will soak disks of each of the four different solutions (five disks per
solution for five minutes per disk) and put them on the plates (make sure to label each specific
plate). Before putting our plates in the incubator, we will wrap the plates with parafilm.
4. Results- How are you going to collect data? Create tables, etc...below
We are going to collect data by using tables and a phone camera to capture what we see under the
microscope. Using a phone camera to see the bacteria being killed off will be more sufficient
than drawing out what we see, because we each have different perceptions of what we see.
Ultimately, inadequate drawings can and will affect our final results.

5. Conclusions- general things you learned? Sources of Error? Things you still want to test?

Works Cited
"Cinnamon as an Antibiotic?" Benefits from Cinnamon. BENEFITS FROM
CINNAMON!., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2015.
"Garlic as an Antibiotic." Antibiotic Properties of Garlic. Trevor Mendham 2007-2014, n.d.
Web. 04 Oct. 2015.
"MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF CLOVE." Clove Properties. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct.
2015.

ITS HAPPENING!!!!!!