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Procedure


Step-by-Step Instructions

1.      Gather materials for gathering soil. Follow this link for a list of materials that you will need.

2.      Go outside to an area with lots of soil. Try to pick an area where the soil is moist or has water running through it. Then pick an area where the soil is extremely dry. Test both areas for mold levels, bacteria levels, and iron levels and see if there are any descrepancies between mold, iron, and bacteria in  both sites.

3.      Pick 5 locations in one area and 5 locations in another area to gather soil. One area will serve as a negative control (the iron levels should be known; this site will be used for comparison) while the other will be used to measure the independent variable, iron (the iron levels should be unknown).

4.      Name the two locations so they can be identified.

5.      Use a soil core to extract the  soil from the ground(the core should go 15 cm deep in the ground and be 2 cm wide) and clean the soil core with water after each use.

                      

                                   bucket

     

6.      Use plastic baggies to store soil and label the baggies in order to identify them.    Click here for labeling help.                   

7.      Gather the materials needed to perform a serial dilution. Follow this link for a list of materials that you will need.

8.      For each bag of soil 5 test tubes will be needed. 

9.      Also, for each bag of soil, 6 nutrient agar plates are needed; three for bacteria and three for mold. For Labeling help: click here.

10.     Follow this link for instructions on how to do a serial dilution.  

11.      At the same time, the soil extraction procedure should take place in order to perform the iron chemical test.

12.      Click on this link for a list of materials needed for soil extraction.

13.      Test each soil sample for iron levels (ppm). Instructions for this process can be found here.

14.     REMEMBER: Repeat all steps twice more using different soil samples.                           

                                                                            juliannee