Bored on a hot and humid day? That Steubenville Ohio river starts to look pretty tempting, but don't fall for it. The Steubenville area once known for it's thriving coal industry is now known for its pollution and smog. To further examine the extent of this contamination we made a trip to the Ohio river to obtain two separate samples from the bricks that are constantly in contact with the river's water.
Using a sterile swab we collected our bacteria sample from two different bricks. Because our sample was already moist we did not have to use the nutrient broth to collect it. Once collected we rubbed the swabs on an agar plate evenly and thoroughly. We closed to plate and marked it with our initials and our sample with a China marker.
And now we are ready to put our samples in the incubator. The incubator is set at 32 degrees centigrade, which is the approximate temperature of the environment that the sample was taken from.
We face the plate upside down so that the bacteria can grow in a moist environment with the water vapor rising to the agar to keep it from drying out.
When we return to lab we will find out how much bacteria is really in the Ohio river!
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