Terpenes vs. Mold

Overview

Objectives/Goals I started doing research on the bark beetle when I found out about the blue stain fungus. Then my father asked me what stops the blue stain fungus? The answer was terpenes. In a natural forest terpenes kill the fungus. This led me to the question is terpene more powerful than household mold killers? My goal was to try to see if we could use the results to benefit the trees. Methods/Materials I took nine mold killers and compared them to 100% pure terpene to see which chemical is the better mold killer. We took 10 petri dishes full of agar and mold then we let the mold grow for at least two weeks when the mold was covering the whole dish, I added the chemicals and observed the death. I found the area of the dish then subtracted the area of the dead mold. Results The result was that 100% turpentine was the most powerful mold killer. When the turpentine came in contact with the mold, death was immediate in the area where it was dropped and in a slight radius around it. In a period of 24 hours the death spread to the entire dish more effectively than any other mold killer we tested. Conclusions/Discussion In all six trials the results were conclusive and consistent. The results supported my Hypothesis that the trees natural defenses would beat the other products. The experiment help show me that the trees natural defenses are highly adapted at killing mold. All of this research has given me greater understanding of the war between the bark beetle and the pine tree.

Awards (1)

• Fourth Place

Competition history

• CSEF 2017 Product Science (Biological) (Junior Division Only) · Entry J2003

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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