Hand Washing Results

Results from the comparison of the antibacterial soap vs. the regular soap showed that before I washed my hands with the regular soap (did not contain Triclosan), my right hand had very little colony growth compared to my left hand. After washing my hands with the regular soap, there was more bacteria growth on my right hand than on the left hand. When comparing my right hand before and after washing my hands, there were a lot more colonies of bacteria afterwards. When comparing my left hand before and after washing my hands, there were more bacteria colonies before I had washed my hands.
-Eileen Sorenson

On my unwashed hands, I had more colonies on my left then on my right.
After i washed my hands (soap with triclosan) my left hand had less than it did before i washed my hands.
My right had had more after I washed my hands.
The triclosan helped with my left hand but not on my right hand. After comparing my results to everyone else's, I have concluded that the triclosan has not made a significant difference in any one person's hands. The triclosan has not made the bacteria greater or less, which was very unexpected to me.
-Becky

I did not perform the first part correctly but by observing the second part, i saw that there was a lot of bacteria on both of my hands. My right hand was filled with a greater amount of bacteria then my left hand. The triclosan was effective and had a reduction of bacteria after the hand was washed but without the triclosan the amount of bacteria was greater, even though it was unexpected. (i did wash my hands without the triclosan)
-Shelby

I had more colonies on my left hand than on my right in the control dishes. I used the regular soap without triclosan and there is a very noticeable difference between the sets. There was considerably less colonies for each hand. The left hand after washing appeared to have more than the right hand after washing.
-Ryan H.

I had more colonies on my right (dominate) hand than on my left before I washed my hands. After I washed my hands with soap that contained triclosan I found less colonies on my right hand and more on my left hand. The right and left hand approximately the same amount of colonies on each hand after I washed my hands with the triclosan soap. Most of the colonies were yellowish- white, but on my right unwashed sample I discovered a few orange colonies. Can we narrow down what kinds of bacteria are growing by the different colors? Is one color the "bad" guys and the other color the "good" bacteria?
-Kim R.

In the original testing prior to the soap, my dominant, right hand had more bacteria colonies than my left hand; yet, both had a considerable amount of bacteria. After washing my hands with the triclosan soap, both my right and left hand were substantially less bacteria than before.
-Schreur

Before washing my hands, my left hand had more colonies than my right. After washing my hands with the soap with the triclosan, my right hand was dirtier than before washing, but my left hand was about the same. The fact that the triclosan had no affect on my hands was unexpected.
-Melissa W.

My left and right unwashed hands had similar amounts of bacteria on them. After washing my hands with the non-tricolsan soap, both of my hands had tripled the quantity of bacteria on them.
Marisa

Before washing my hands both hands and some bacteria colonies but very few they seemed to have close to equal amounts of bacteria. My left hand had more colonies though, I am right hand dominate. Both hands after washing with the soap containing Tricloson had fewer bacteria colonies. My right hand washed with triclosan soap hand only 3 small colonies of bacteria.
-Brandi B.

Before I washed my hands there were large bacteria colonies, but few in number. I am right handed and there were more large colonies present on my right hand dish. I washed my hands with the soap containing no Triclosan. After washing more colonies were present, but they were much smaller in size than before.
- Mackenzie

My right hand had a huge colony of bacteria and my left had did not have as big as colonies, but there were quite a bit. I am right handed. After I washed my hands with the no triclosan soap there were fewer colonies and the colonies were also little.
-Trisha

Before, both of my hands contain fewer amounts of bacteria than after I have washed my hands. At first, the left hand seems to have more bacteria than the right hand. After the hand washed, more bacteria formed on the right hand than on the left hand.
-Nhung Nguyen

My dominant hand is my right hand, my right hand showed more bacteria colonies to be growing before the hand washing. I noticed differences between the bacteria colonies on my right and left hand. After washing my hands with the Triclosan, there was a great amount of change in how many bacteria colonies that came about on my left hand. There was 80 small dots of bacteria colonies without washing on my left hand and only 30 little small dot colonies after washing with the Triclosan.
-Brandon Waszgis

It seems like there were larger colonies of bacteria on the right hand. It also seemed as if the index finger had the most bacteria. I washed my hands without triclosan and there seemed to be more bacteria than before washing. The results were pretty much the same. The right hand had more large colonies than the left, and the index finger had the most bacteria colonies. After looking at my neighbors, I found that the triclosan killed more bacteria than what the regular soap had done. I also found that most peoples dominant hands had the most bacteria.
-Cody Kruckenberg

Before and after washing my hand with triclosan, my left hand had roughly 30% fewer bacteria than my right hand. My hands appeared to be 40% dirtier after I wash my hand with triclosan. I'm a right handed person. I believe the bacteria came from both of my hand are the same type of bacteria because they all have the same cloudy-yellow color.
-Hoa Le

Prior to washing my hands, I found many bacteria colonies. These colonies were of all colors, shapes, and sizes. Most of my bacteria looked like white and yellow dots or splotches. My right hand is my dominant hand which, of course, appeared to have more bacteria present than my left hand. After washing both of my hands with a soap containing no triclosan, the bacteria present on my hands did not really appear to change in number. My right and left hands both had about the same amount of colonies even after I washed my hands. The anti-bacterial soap seemed to kill more germs than the non bacterial soap, according to my class's results.
-Laci Swanson

Before washing my hands, I stuck my fingertips in the gel minus my thumbs. My unwashed hand samples showed that my dominant hand (right) had a slightly more bacteria colonies than my left hand. I placed similar finger prints in my second set of gels. Before placing these prints, I washed my hands with soap that did not contain triclosan. After being placed in an incubator, the samples showed that my left and right washed hands had about the same amount of bacteria colonies as the unwashed hands. The sample from my right washed hand had more bacteria than my left washed hand.
-Alex Permann

My right hand contained more bacteria before washing than did my left hand (dominant). After washing my hands with triclosan, my left hand still contained fewer colonies than my right hand. However, after washing my hands they both contained more bacteria colonies than what was on the first culture.
-Brianna Carter

There was very little difference between the number of bacteria colonies on my left and right hand before I washed my hands. However, my right hand has significantly fewer bacteria colonies on my washed hand than my unwashed hand. My left washed hand had fewer colonies than my left unwashed hand, but the colonies were larger. I saw little difference in the number of bacteria colonies on the hands washed with triclosan and the hands washed without triclosan.
-Danya Hangman

My left, unwashed hand had more bacteria colonies than my right, unwashed hand. After washing my hands with the regular soap not containing triclosan, both of my hands had slightly fewer bacteria colonies. When comparing results my hands washed without had fewer bacteria colonies than the hands with triclosan. The two significant unexpected results were the hands washed with triclosan had more bacteria after washing than before being washed and the fact that my dominant hand (my right hand) had fewer bacteria colonies.
-Samantha Emerick

My right, unwashed hang had a few more bacteria colonies than my left unwashed hand. For the most part though, both of my hands looked equally dirty. Then I washed my hands with the triclosan soap and I noticed that my hands looked as if they had more bacteria than when they started. This was definitely an unexpected result. I figured that my hands would be a lot cleaner after I washed them but that wasn't the case. I washed my hands very well I thought so I don't know how I got this result. Maybe I didn't wash my hands long enough, I am not sure? I know a few others had this same result. I also noticed that after I washed my hands, my dominant hand, which is my right, did have more bacteria colonies than the left. So, I thought this was an interesting result. I did expect my dominant hand to have more bacteria though.
-Molly O'Neill

In my handwashing experiment, I learned that my left unwashed hand contained more colonies of bacteria than my right unwashed hand. I found this to be odd considering I am right-hand dominant. I washed my hands with the soap containing triclosan and found that both of my washed hands contained even more bacteria than my unwashed hands, which I thought to be an unexpected result. Although there were more colonies of bacteria on my washed hands, my unwashed hands however, contained larger and more dark-stained colonies. Of the people in class that had more bacteria on their left hands, all were right-hand dominant, which I also found interesting.
-Brady Helmink

My unwashed left hand had mroe colonies than my unwashed right hand. I found this interesting because I am right-handed. I also found that my washed right hand had a few more colonies than my unwashed hand, which I thought was odd. My left washed hand had slightly fewer colonies than my left unwashed hand. My left washed hand still had more colonies than my right washed hand. The result I found to be most unexpected was that even though my right unwashed hand had fewer bacteria than my right washed hand, neither one had very many colonies compared to the people around me. I used the soap without triclosan.
-Emily Peterson

My unwashed left hand had slightly less bacteria then my unwashed right hand. After washing with triclosan soap both had much less bacteria then my unwashed hands. I was not suprised by my results. I am right handed and expected my right hand to have more bacteria due to increased use. The triclosan soap had antibacterial lin it so I thought it would result in having less bacteria then the unwashed hands.

Briana Dietrich

In our hand washing experiments, I found that my unwashed hands were very similar with one another in the amount of bacteria grown, with my right, dominant hand containing only a few more bacteria colonies. What I found to be very strange was that both of my pinkie fingers contained more bacteria then the other fingers before washing. After washing with the triclosan soap, I had fewer number of bacteria colonies, although the colonies were slightly larger than before washing.

Carey Baczwaski

In my results I found that my left han had more bacteria then my right hand when unwashed and washed. Also my dominant hand is my left. In conclusion their was signifantly less (50% less by counting colonies) on the washed hand plates then the unwashed. The soap I used contained triclosan which based on my individual results seemed to lower the amount of bacteria on both of my hands.

Matt Kerr

My hand washing results I found that there were more bacteria on my right hand. There were about 280 colonies of bacteria on my unwashed right hand plate and only about 100 colonies on my washed right hand plate. Then on my unwashed left hand plate there were about only 140 colonies and the 40 colonies on my left washed plate. Also there was more bacteria on my left and right unwashed plates. There was a big difference between my unwashed and washed plates. The soap I used did not have triclosan therefore concluding that using soap with out triclosan does decrease the amount of bacteria on hands.

Anna Ahrens

My results were a little misleading in ways. My left hand showed more colonies of bacteria overall then my right hand in the first prints of our fingertips, yet after washing my hands with regular hand washing soap (without Triclosan) my results were slightly skewed. My left hand had less germs than before, and the amount of bacteria that were infested on my right hand nearly doubled in size. These result were extremely different than anyone elses in class as far i was concerned. In my own personal experience, washing my hands does not necessarily kill all germs, it might even distribute them more across my fingers as i lather up.

Colin Schroeder

My results from the hand washing lab had a slight problem. The first set of hand prints we collected (before washing hands) didn't create any bacteria so I couldnt' compare my own before and after of the hand washing. After washing my hands, though, my left hand had more than my right, but the amount of colonies was significantly decreased from what I saw other lab members had before. In comparing the type of soap, triclosan vs. no triclosan, it appeared the students who washed with triclosan had just slightly fewer colonies than us students that washed with soap not containing triclosan. I conclude that washing your hands frequently is beneficial, but one shouldn't worry if the soap is antibacterial vs. non-antibacterial, but more the you do wash your hands vs. not washing hands.
- Britt Williamson

My hand washing results were about what i expected them to be. The right hand (which was my dominate hand) had more wide spreading bacteria and more colonies than my left hand before washing them. I washed my hands with triclosan and found that my right hand had few colonies of bacteria compared to my unwashed hand. My left hand had more colonies of bacteria after washing them but they were a lot smaller in size compared to the unwashed left hand. I compared my results to another student who washed without triclosan and concluded that washing your hands with triclosan eliminated more bacteria and makes you have cleaner hands.
-Brice Buryanek

My results were that there was more colonies of bacteria on my right hand than my left hand. Since I am left handed I was surprised to find more bacteria on my right hand. After washing my hands with triclosan there were conciderably less colonies on my left hand. On my right hand there were a few more colonies left than on my left hand. After comparing my results to what some other students found using regular soap, I concluded that we had very similar results. Thus I don't think that it makes much difference in the type of soap, just as long as you wash your hands with soap will result in having cleaner hands.
-Scott Varilek

The results for my hand washing experiment were not too surprising. Between my right and left hands, my right hand had more bacteria colonies than my left, and being right handed, I was pleased with this result. Thankfully after washing my hands with the antibacterial (with triclosan) soap my right hand showed that I had fewer colonies after washing my handsnot by much, but still less! Surprisingly enough, my left washed hand showed more bacterial colonies than my left unwashed hand. Perhaps this was due to touching a contaminated surface on the way back to leave my print on the jello-goop. After comparing with fellow students concerning with or without Triclosan soap, I feel that washing with triclosan results in fewer bacterial colonies than if a person were to wash with soap not containing triclosan.
Kayla Kopfmann

Both before and after washing my hands, my right hand (dominant) had less bacteria than my left. After washing my hands with triclosan-containing soap, I noticed an increase in the amount of bacteria colonies for both the right and the left hand. Both of these results were unexpected.
-Jamie Maguire

Using regular soap:
Right v. Left (unwashed)- Right had more/bigger colonies of bacteria
Right (unwashed) v. Right (washed)- Right had more bacteria
Left (unwashed) v. Left (washed)- same amount of bacteria
with Triclosan v. with out Triclosan- the was a difference in the amount of bacteria
-Johan Conradie

I touched a gel plate with my fingertips from my right hand and used my fingertips from my left hand on another gel plate. After two days in the incubator we pulled them to check the amount of growth of bacteria from the fingertips. After comparing my dominant (right) hand to my left I noticed the amount of bacteria was significantly less. On the gel plate containing bacteria from my left hand there could have been a fungus transferred as there was a large concentration of a substance I could not recognize. I then examined my plates I touched after washing my hands with soap containing triclosan. Unexpectedly, nothing showed up on these plates. They were both clear and looked the same as they did when I placed them in the incubator. Based on these results I would say there was more bacteria on my dominate hand compared to my left hand when they are both unwashed. After washing my hands there was less bacteria that showed up compared to my hands before washing. Looking at other results, I would conclude the washing of hands with soap containing triclosan would kill more bacteria then washing with a soap no containing triclosan.
-CJ Gradoville

My right hand was absolutely disgusting for the first go-around, but both hands were better after washing with the no triclosan. I barely had any bacteria left after washing, but before washing, my dominant (right hand) had far more bacteria than my non-dominant (left hand).
-K Prosser

In the samples of bacteria taken before washing my left thumb had more colonies of growth than my right. Another note, my right thumb had a mold growth meaning that I must of had a spore of some fungus on my thumb. This gives reason to wonder if possibly the fungus was in a way competing against the bacteria, which could explain why my dominant hand had fewer bacteria on it. After washing my hands with antibacterial soap my left thumb oddly had more bacteria growth than my initial sample taken before washing. My right thumb, however, had no mold growth and significantly less bacteria growth.
- Joe Lockett

I found it interesting that my right hand, which is my dominant hand had the least bacteria on it, and that it had developed more bacterial growth after i washed my hands with regular soap (non triclosan). i also noted that the dish i used for my unwashed left hand may have been contaminated because of how the collonies were not grouped around where i had placed my hand, and after i washed my left hand grew about as much bacteria as my right hand.
-Chrissy Stamp

These were the results posted on the board:

More bacteria on…

unwashed hands: 19
Washed hands:9
No difference: 8
Right hand: 20
Left hand: 12
No difference in right vs. left: 4
Dominant hand: 19
Non-dominant hand:13
Not applicable: 4

-Chrissy Stamp

lab
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