The Effects of Various Factors on the Growth Rate of E. coliIntroduction:There are times in our lives (as human beings) when people do not feel well. A doctor might diagnose them with a disease or an infection. There are also times when people do not feel clean. This could be a person's feeling after exercising, sweating, or maybe he/she had not taken a shower in a couple days. In any of the preceding scenarios, bacteria most likely played a major role in initiating a person's feeling of illness or squalor. "Sickness" can be caused from bacteria. Someone may be sick because they ate food contaminated with bacteria or they could have easily taken a sip from the cup of a friend and shared some sort of bacterial disease. Bacteria surrounds us everyday, every second. It is difficult for people to accept this fact because they want to believe they are clean, after they shower. In relative terms, a washed person is clean, but they are not free of bacteria. "Clean" is simply an image, because bacteria are covering all substances and objects that you use to be clean; toothbrushes, soap, and even toilet paper. We live in a world of bacteria, maybe even a world that evolved from bacteria.These microscopic organisms reproduce quickly, sometimes even exponentially. In the experiment today, my class is observing and measuring data of how different factors can influence the rate at which bacteria grows. We will use Escherichia coli (E. coli) as our bacteria. It is a Gram-negative bacterium that resides in the intestines of humans (Laboratory Experiences, 34). Before you can fully understand the experiment and it purpose, it is important to understand the phases bacteria go through when reproducing in various media. In general, a bacterial will go through four distinct phases; a lag phase, log phase, stationary phase, and a death phase. The lag phase shows how bacteria reproduce at a very slow rate at first. At this point, the ce...
