Please Experiment Help ASAP

Question

How do i get equal concentrations for cinnamon powder, garlic+gingr extracts, and like honey? I need to see their antibacterial effect. Also how will I apply them to already cultured ecoli? Using what method and how I really don’t understand the procedure and how to do the experiment design/method.

Answer 1

Hi Sarah S.,

Since cinnamon and garlic + ginger are solids, you really don't have an option of "equal concentrations", do you? Dusting as a powder might be a problem: poor physical contact to the E. coli. So you must figure out a way of suspending them in a transparent liquid, at a known, controlled "concentration", so that you can apply them to your E. coli plate. The liquid must not be directly toxic to E. coli! and it must wet the powders, but not spread excessively over the E. coli plate. That kind of rules out water, unless you add a detergent (Tween-80, many others you can look up). So you have to 1) get a uniform mix, and 2) apply a controlled amount. Stirring a lot should accomplish #1, and dispensing with a small-volume syringe and a large bore needle (properly primed and blotted!) should accomplish #2.

Have you considered varying the volumes or amounts applied for the actives, and performing replicates (if you're assessing by zone of inhibition diameter?) for ruggedness of data?

You could look up procedures in the literature to get ideas for the application process (solvent, primarily). Another possibility would be to apply a controlled amount of slurry to completely wet a disc of filter paper, then place that onto the plate. The disc would perform the function of holding the slurry in place to allow diffusion of active chemicals into the [agar].

Remember to log the source information for all ingredients (brand, grade, etc.).

-- Cheers, --Mr. d.