Mold Growth Lab Report

What Conditions Help Mold Grow? We have all seen mold grow and ruin that last piece of pie that we were saving for an afternoon snack. Mold can also grow on a whole loaf of bread or a block of cheese. Sicker-Quicker Laboratories is setting out to determine which conditions will make mold grow the quickest. Armed with a loaf of bread, a container of mold, and three different environments (warm 32°C, cool 5°C, and room temperature 18°C) you must design and conduct an experiment to determine the best place to store your bread so that it will not grow moldy and have to be thrown away.

Part I Problem: _____________________________________________________________________________________

Part I We have all seen mold grow and ruin that last piece of pie that we were saving for an afternoon snack. Mold can also grow on a whole loaf of bread or a block of cheese. Sicker-Quicker Laboratories is setting out to determine which conditions will make mold grow the quickest. Armed with a loaf of bread, a container of mold, and three different environments (warm 32°C, cool 5°C, and room temperature 18°C) you must design and conduct an experiment to determine the best place to store your bread so that it will not grow moldy and have to be thrown away.

Part I Problem : To determine which conditions will make mold grow the quickest.

Hypothesis: __________________________________________________________________________________

Armed with a loaf of bread, a container of mold, and three different environments (warm 32°C, cool 5°C, and room temperature 18°C) you must design and conduct an experiment to determine the best place to store your bread so that it will not grow moldy and have to be thrown away. Hypothesis: __________________________________________________________________________________

Armed with a loaf of bread, a container of mold, and three different environments (warm 32°C, cool 5°C, and room temperature 18°C) you must design and conduct an experiment to determine the best place to store your bread so that it will not grow moldy and have to be thrown away. Hypothesis: More mold will grow at warm temperatures (32°C)

Variables: Identify the….. Control: ______________________________________________________________________ Independent Variable: ______________________________________________________ Dependent Variable: ________________________________________________________ Constants: ____________________________________________________________________

Variables: Identify the….. Control: Room temperature

Variables: Identify the….. Control: Room temperature Independent Variable: Temperature

Variables: Identify the….. Independent Variable: temperature Control: Room temp Independent Variable: temperature Dependent Variable: amount of mold growth Constants:

Variables: Identify the….. Independent Variable: temperature Control: Room temp Independent Variable: temperature Dependent Variable: amount of mold growth Constants: Same type of bread, same amount of mold to start with, same amount of time to measure

Materials: Bread- 3 equal size slices of Arnolds white Mold Something to measure mold with – microscope Refrigerator incubator

Procedure: 1. Put same amount of mold on 3 pieces of Arnolds white bread 2. Put 1 mold spore on each piece of bread. 3. Put one piece of bread in a refrigerator at (5o C), one piece at room temperature (18o C), and one piece in an incubator at (32o C) 4. Measure the number of mold spores, on each piece of bread, every day for 6 days at the same time using a microscope and record the number for each piece of bread.

Data Table Time (days) Number of mold spores (5o C) 1 2 3 4 5 8 16 12 32 6 18 64

Temperature vs. Mold Growth Number of Mold Spores

Part III Conclusion Restate the hypothesis Is the hypothesis valid or invalid (support your answer) Validity of the experiment (what may have gone wrong/what would you change)

The mold was expected to grow the most at the warm temperature (32o C) .

The mold was expected to grow the most at the warm temperature (32o C) The mold was expected to grow the most at the warm temperature (32o C) . The hypothesis was supported by the data.

The mold was expected to grow the most at the warm temperature (32o C) The mold was expected to grow the most at the warm temperature (32o C) . The hypothesis was supported by the data. The data showed that the bread at the cold temperature had 3 mold spores after 6 days, bread at room temperature had 18 mold spores after 6 days, and that the bread at the warm temperature had 64 mold spores after 6 days. The warm temperature bread had the most mold spores.

The results are valid because the temperature was controlled the entire time. One thing that could be improved is to change the method of counting the mold spores using the same microscope, because there could be cross-contamination on the different bread slices from using the same microscope. The microscope should be wiped with an alcohol wipe between each use.