Blog 15: E. Coli Background Info

Background information about E. coli. Describe the basic biology of E. coli. Review some key information about this model organism. 

Escherichia Coli, or E. Coli are a bacteria that are found inside intestines of warm-blooded animals. The bacteria are rod shaped. Most E. Coli are completely harmless as well as essential. They help with digestion by releasing B and K vitamins through a process in which the E. Coli helps break down food into usable, digestible nutrients. A couple of bad strains of E. Coli is called O157:H7, E. Coli 0121 and E. Coli 0104:H21. These strains comes from the runoff of fecal matter of other animals. It can leak into water sources, which are then used to supplement animals, and vegetables. If we ingest the meat of such animals or vegetables then we can get E. Coli poisoning which includes symptoms of vomiting and abdominal cramps, and long term effects of kidney failure. E. Coli poisoning occurs when the E. Coli from another organism get into your stomach. A common E. Coli breakout that comes from factory farms is E. Coli from the intestines of cows. In many cases when young children or elderly adults are infected with E. Coli, the poisoning can eventually lead to death because their immune systems are not as strong as an average, healthy adult. 

Blog 14

Lessons Learned From My First Experiment

          What was the favorite part of your experiment?

My favorite part of the experiment was checking the plants everyday. It was fun to see the changes that they went through and how rapidly they grew. Everyday, the plants would look completely different because they grew so rapidly. 

           What did you find challenging?

The most challenging part of this experiment for me was keeping track of our data. It was hard to make sure that we measured each plant like the last. Another thing that was challenging in this experiment was just overall remembering everything that had to be done with the plants everyday because we always needed to water, measure, and take pictures of them.

          What could you have personally done to improve your work?

To improve my work, I personally could have paid better attention to making sure that everything was executed correctly. Since this was our first experiment in the class, and having no experience, it was difficult to make sure that everything was done correctly. For example, in many of our photo's of our experiment, we forgot to put in some sort of unit of measure like a penny or a ruler.

          Is there anything about your experience that I should be aware of?

Overall, I really enjoyed this experience. I have never designed my own science experiment and it was interesting to learn about the process of how one plans, and executes a full science experiment. 

Blog 11

What was your working hypothesis, and what was your prediction?

My groups working hypothesis was that the plants that we watered with light rain pressure would grow taller and faster than the plants that were being watered with heavy rain pressure. Our prediction was that the plants that received heavy rain pressure would either not grow at all, or at least be much shorter than the plants watered with light rain pressure. As it came to turn out, the plants with the heavy rain pressure did grow quite tall, and grew flowers, but they were slightly more crushed down than the plants that were watered lightly. The plants that were watered with light rain pressure grew very slightly taller than the plants that were watered with heavy rain pressure, and their height varied more than the others. 

Graph - Blog 10

Figure 1: This graph shows how rain pressure, either heavy or light, effects the growth in height of the fast plants. The data indicates that the plants that were watered through light water pressure grew taller (5cm), than plants that were watered with heavy rain (4cm). Because the results differ, there are two different groups,  

Experimental Hypothesis and Predictions

My group has hypothesized that the plant that is "rained" on at a slower rate will grow better because steady and gradual is a better condition than fast and abrupt. I, myself, am predicting that the plant that is "rained" on at a slower rate will grow faster than the other. In nature, a slower, plentiful rain always has a far better effect on plants, etc. whereas a sudden rain could lead to washing out plants and animals, causing danger in the ecosystem. I am a little worried that by doing such a sudden rainfall that some plants in that group may not grow, but I think that as long as my group is careful about how much water we add each day (150 mL per plant) that everything should go smoothly. I am not as worried about the condition of the plants that will be "rained" on lightly because the rain will not be so rough as to destroy them when they are just seedlings. I cannot wait to begin this experiment because I am anxious to find what is going to happen, and if my hypothesis in the first sentence is right.

What Will You Measure?

My group will be measuring the effect that a light rain versus a heavy rain has on a plant. Essentially to measure our plants progress, we will be looking at the height of the plants as well as the plants are growing. We will be looking at how fast the opposing plants will be growing, how big they grow, how healthy they look (full vs thin, etc.), etc. Regarding plant measurements, my group will be testing with a total of 12 pots. We are starting off with each pot having 3 seeds in it, so that there is a high chance that we will end up with 12 plants rather than anything lower.

Watering Schedule:

Everyday at 11:25:

Mon - Caroline

Tues - Shivani

Wed - Kennedy

Thurs - Sophie

Fri - Sophie

Sat - Shivani

Sun - Caroline