fairfolio
Saved Projects

Spice Aromatherapy

CSEF · 2002 Microbiology

D. Clifton Huang · Fairmont Private - Edgewood Campus, Santa Ana

Overview

Objectives/Goals My objective is to determine if pungent smelling spices contain subtances that can be carried in their vapors that can inhibit bacterial growth. Methods/Materials 1.8 agar plates are swabbed with S. marcescens. 2.8 agar plates are swabbed with B. subtilis. 3.Crush each of the 7 variables: cinnamon, clove, garlic, horseradish, ginger,jalapeno chili pepper,and black pepper. 4.Invert all the plates so that the agar would now be on top and the lid would be on the bottom. 5.Place 20 grams each of the variable on the lid of one S. marcescens plate and one B. subtilis plate. 6.Record bacterial growth at 24 hours, 48 hours, and 72 hours. Results Trial 1: There was prominent bacterial growth on the control and chili pepper plates after 48 hours and no bacterial growth on the horseradish, ginger, clove and cinnamon plates. Black pepper slows bacterial growth but does not stop it. Garlic stops the growth of S. marcescens but not B. Subtilis. Trial 2: The experiment failed because the week old sample bacteria had died. The lids on the test tubes were in too tight and did not allow air to enter. As these are aerobic bacteria, they needed oxygen to survive. Conclusions/Discussion Since ancient times, spices has been used medicinally by many different cultures to ward off diseases. It has been applied topically, ingested, hung around the house or worn as a necklace. My experiment proves that certain pungent smelling spices contain antibacterial substances that are also carried in their vapors. Ginger, clove, cinnamon and garlic have potent antibacterial vapors. Garlic vapors are potent on some bacteria only. Black pepper vapors has antibacterial properties but not strong enough to stop it.

Summary statement

My project is to find out if the vapors of pungent smelling spices like clove, cinammon, garlic, horseradish, ginger, jalapen chili pepper, and black pepper can stop bacterial growth.

Help received

Mr Hobbs, my science teacher and Mr Hughes, my English teacher helped me organize my thoughts and project. My parents funded my experiment.

Competition history

  • CSEF 2002 Microbiology · Entry J1315

Resources

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

Source: California Science & Engineering Fair public projects

Save projects to your library

Sign in with Google to keep track of projects you find interesting, organized into folders. An account also raises your daily allowance for “Has this been done?”, and lets you create a key for the MCP server with a much higher limit than anonymous use. Browsing stays public.

Continue with Google