Essential Killers

Overview

Objectives/Goals My objective is to find how effective essential oils are at killing e.coli bacteria. I used dilutions of five different essential oils to test the effectiveness of essential oils. I will continue to dilute until the dilutions stop killing the e.coli bacteria. Methods/Materials I spread e.coli bacteria in a solution of beef broth onto sterile sheep's blood agar petri plates. I diluted the 100% pure essential oil with distilled water. I used dilutions 1:1, 1:2, 1:4, and 1:6. I placed drops of the dilutions on the innoculated petri plate and the incubated the petri plates at thirty-seven degrees centigrade or body temperature. Results Essential oils killed e.coli bacteria in all dilutions. Clove essential oil 1:4 dilution killed the best of all five essential oils I tested. Undiluted pine essential oil killed almost as well as the clove dilution. Mountain savory essential oil killed much less then the pine essential oil in all dilutions, but it killed a little more than the marjoran essential oil in all dilutions. Lemon essential oil hardly killed any bacteria at all. Conclusions/Discussion Essential oils are effective at killing bacteria but with varying levels of effectiveness.To be more accurate, I would need more definitive colonies to count the colonies of bacteria. The zones of inhibition are very large in these dilutions. I have a experiment in progress using smaller dilutions.

Competition history

• CSEF 2003 Microbiology · Entry S1302

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