Investigation of the impact of UV Rays on the Bacteria in Pond Water
Abstract
Our aim is to find out if UV rays can damage bacteria and the minimum duration
of the time needed for all bacteria to be wiped out. One type of UV ray,
Shortwave (UV-C) radiation has a potent germ-killing effect. The reason why we are choosing
UV rays to test on is that UVC wavelengths are in between 200 and 300 nanometers, making
them germicidal – meaning they are fit for inactivating microorganisms, for example, bacteria,
viruses, and protozoa. This quality makes UVC energy an effective,
environment-friendly and chemical-free approach to killing dangerous microorganisms in any
condition. We are using a BioSafety Cabinet for the main UV rays. We are using
water from our school’s pond to act as the source of bacteria. To summarize, we drip the pond
water into agar plates and screen them with UV rays for different durations of time, half of the
agar plates are covered with an object to block off UV rays in order to act as the control set up,
shortly after which we place the agar plates (sealed by tape) into an incubator to start bacteria
culture. The next few days, we take out the agar plates and observe them according to the
amount of area that the bacteria has covered and compared them with other agar plates with
different timings under UV rays. This research is vital as if our hypothesis is correct, then water
filters can screen the bacteria in UV rays many times to kill all bacteria in the water. This would
mean that water filters do not need to waste resources like other antimicrobials to ensure that
all bacteria are gone and because it can just put the water through many cycles of filtering using
the same amount of UV rays, it does not need to be big to output enough UV rays to kill off the
bacteria in a one round. In the end, our results were inconsistent and thus our accuracy is not
precise. However, our test confirmed that UV rays can kill bacteria from 140 seconds or above.
Though it may take longer for the water to be filtered, it would cost less and use fewer
resources. In the future, the water filter may use this as a way to reduce their size and take up
less space in homes. More advanced and safer UV machines/lamps can be created to kill off
bacteria with minimum damage to humans.
of the time needed for all bacteria to be wiped out. One type of UV ray,
Shortwave (UV-C) radiation has a potent germ-killing effect. The reason why we are choosing
UV rays to test on is that UVC wavelengths are in between 200 and 300 nanometers, making
them germicidal – meaning they are fit for inactivating microorganisms, for example, bacteria,
viruses, and protozoa. This quality makes UVC energy an effective,
environment-friendly and chemical-free approach to killing dangerous microorganisms in any
condition. We are using a BioSafety Cabinet for the main UV rays. We are using
water from our school’s pond to act as the source of bacteria. To summarize, we drip the pond
water into agar plates and screen them with UV rays for different durations of time, half of the
agar plates are covered with an object to block off UV rays in order to act as the control set up,
shortly after which we place the agar plates (sealed by tape) into an incubator to start bacteria
culture. The next few days, we take out the agar plates and observe them according to the
amount of area that the bacteria has covered and compared them with other agar plates with
different timings under UV rays. This research is vital as if our hypothesis is correct, then water
filters can screen the bacteria in UV rays many times to kill all bacteria in the water. This would
mean that water filters do not need to waste resources like other antimicrobials to ensure that
all bacteria are gone and because it can just put the water through many cycles of filtering using
the same amount of UV rays, it does not need to be big to output enough UV rays to kill off the
bacteria in a one round. In the end, our results were inconsistent and thus our accuracy is not
precise. However, our test confirmed that UV rays can kill bacteria from 140 seconds or above.
Though it may take longer for the water to be filtered, it would cost less and use fewer
resources. In the future, the water filter may use this as a way to reduce their size and take up
less space in homes. More advanced and safer UV machines/lamps can be created to kill off
bacteria with minimum damage to humans.
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