Bacteria Resistance

Bacteria resistance to antibiotics

This science fair project aims to find out how the frequent use of antibiotics affects bacteria resistance. This experiment is carried out using the antibioticampicillin and the bacteria, Escherichia Coli (E. Coli).
Hypothesis
Repeated use of antibiotics causes bacteria to develop resistance which in turn, causes the antibiotic to become less effective ineliminating the bacteria.
 
Overview
Bacterial resistance

Bacteria and other microorganisms exist all around us. Most of them are harmless to us. Some assist us in digesting our food whileothers make us sick. The discovery of antibiotics, other antimicrobial agents and immunization have tremendously reduced the proliferation of diseases caused by bacterial infection. However, the excessiveuse of antibiotics has resulted in bacteria resistance, where the bacteria develops an immunity towards the antibiotic and renders the antibiotic no longer effective.This may lead to the growth andmultiplication of a new population of resistant bacteria. This may also lead to a longer recovery time for patients who are suffering from the infection. In addition, stronger and more expensiveantibiotics with harmful side effects may have to be used on the patient.   
 
Materials
The materials required for this science fair project are:

-    15 agar Petri dishes 
-    15 disinfected swabs-    1 bottle of disinfected water
-    1 piece of filter paper
-    1 hole puncher
-    4 test tubes
-    1 measuring cylinder
-    100mg of antibiotic ampicillin
-    1 digital weighing scale-    1 beaker of water
-    E Coil bacteria culture
-    1 forceps
-    1 marker pen

Procedure
1.    The independent variable for this science project is the concentration of the antibioticused. The dependent variable is the size of inhibition zone (which is the area free frombacteria). This is determined by measuring the diameter of the area using a ruler. The constants (control...