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ISEF · 2016

Schmidt, Kathleen

Overview

Have you ever avoided using the bathroom in a public place because you don’t want to sit on those toilets? Most people would rather go to the restroom in the comfort of their own home. The purpose of this experiment is to find out which bathroom really is cleaner: private or public. The answer to the problem could affect people’s toiletry use every day in public and private settings. The experiment of discovering whether private or public bathrooms were cleaner involved a series of steps. Prior to testing, research on bacteria, its structures, and common types of it found in public and private settings had to be done. The investigation called for a total of four private and four public bathrooms to investigate on. Each of the chosen bathrooms toilet seats were swabbed in three different places: the front, back, and right side using agar plates. The swabs were then placed in an incubator, allowed to grow for three days, and checked once during each of those days to record growth. The agar plates identified for this investigation showed the daily progression and development of the bacterium. As a result of completing the procedure noted above, the cleaner of the two types of bathrooms was found. This experiment led insight into the finding that public bathrooms are cleaner than private bathrooms. The knowledge that public bathrooms are, in fact, the cleaner of the two should lead people to not be wary of using public bathrooms with the thought in mind that it is more than likely cleaner than their home toilet.

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Source: Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair

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