Alexander Fleming - Discovering Penicillin

Do you remember last week's pepper and soap experiment? Did you see how pepper (which represented the germs) moved away from the soap when you put your finger in? The scientist Alexander Fleming noticed something similar in his science lab many years ago. He was growing bacteria (the kind that can make you poorly) and found that when he added mould, it killed the surrounding bacteria. (You can see this in the picture above. The clear spots are where the bacteria has been killed). This was a really important experiment! Use the powerpoint below to find out why.

Alexander Fleming's Findings 

Penicillin was placed in a petri dish full of bacteria. To begin with, there was 100 mm of bacteria in the dish. As the penicillin killed the bacteria, a clear zone emerged. Fleming measured and recorded the clear zone around the penicillin to see how it changed over time. This is what he found: 

Use 2graph on Purple Mash to create a line graph for this data. I have set this as a 2do. It will also help you to practise the skills you learned in Maths last week. 

Don't forget to:

- Give your graph a title: A graph to show the effects of penicillin on bacteria. 

- Label each axis: Time (hours) and Size (mm)