The Resistance of Escherichia coli on Lemon Juice and Baking Soda

The premise of this experiment was to determine which homemade cleaner Escherichia coli bacteria becomes the most resistant to. The two homemade cleaners being tested were lemon juice and baking soda. Coffee filters soaked in the two treatments were randomly placed in groups of three into a Petri dish were they were exposed to E. coli. The resistant bacteria around the coffee filters were then transferred to a new set of Petri dishes. This was repeated one more time so there were a total of three trials, two which tested the resistance. Three two-sample t-tests were used to test the significance of differences of means from two random samples of independent observations. Being compared were the means of the last resistance trials of lemon juice vs. baking soda, the 1st trial vs. the last trial means of lemon juice, and the 1st trial vs. the last trial means of baking soda.

The experiment resulted in Escherichia coli bacteria becoming the most resistant to the baking soda treatments. This is relevant to society because it lets consumers know that if they’re looking for a low-cost household cleaner, it would be more beneficial to clean using lemon juice as opposed to baking soda. Bacterial resistance to antibacterial cleaners and antibiotics is a booming topic in the science industry today. Looking for ways to combat bacterial resistance would be an important scientific advance, and using less strength cleaners, such as homemade ones, are possibilities.

Research Done By:

Jessica Behnke
Cousino High School

Nicholas Johnson
South Lake High School

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