Dry Spices Lab

Prep: In order for the experiment to be conducted, there needed to be an extract available in order to soak the 7 mm disc. The way that the spices were extracted was by taking both the fresh and dry spices (Zingiber officinale (Ginger), Thymus vulgaris (Thyme), Allium sativum (Garlic), and A. cepa (Onion)) and measured out 1.5 grams of each of the spices. For the fresh spices, they had to be chopped up finely in order to get an exact measurement of 1.5 grams like the dry spices and this also helped break up the chemicals. Once all of the fresh and dry spices were measured, the fresh spices would need to be put in a mortar with 6mL of distilled water and then mixed with the pestle. This was done in order to get a more potent extract from the fresh spices. The dry spices also got put in the mortar with the 6mL of water and mixed until it was a liquid based combination. The solution then would sit a week in order to allow the chemicals in the spice to fully be effective and active. …show more content…
After the agar plate was divided, they were then labeled “E. Coli + fresh/dry specific spice. Each of the eight agar plates were labeled this was and then ¼ of the agar plate was labeled control. This is where the plain 7mm disc went and this acted as the control of the experiment. Before any of the discs were put on the agar plate, the agar plate was prepared by making a bacterial lawn. In order to do this, a cotton swab was dipped into a tube containing E. Coli and then stirred around to insure that the bacteria was evenly distributed. Then the cotton swab was used to swab the entire surface of the agar plate. After one round of swabbing, the agar was rotated slightly to the right and swabbed again. This occurred one more time to ensure that the whole lawn would have bacteria