Grade Grouping 10-12
Team Size 1
Subject Area Health
Project Type Descriptive
Project Level Standard
Project Format Traditional
Software Microsoft Front Page, Clip art
Hardware Digital Camera Tools Special Skills Java Script, swish movie making, photo editing
Source of the Idea Moldy food I found in my lunchkit.
Summary :The project that I chose to research for science fair is the discovery and origin of penicillin. Penicillin is the liquid part which is produced from the mold Penicillium Notatum. The mold gives off this liquid during its growing process.
I found that penicillin was discovered by Alexander Flemming by complete accident on a dirty dish, and is actually produced by common molds such as those found on bread. I let mold grow on an item of food which was quite susceptible to mold (in this case, I used bread) to observe the stages in which the mold grows. This visual example helped me to better understand the stages and appearance
to mold, or in this case, Penicillium Notatum (which is the type of mold which produces penicillin). I plan to bring samples of the different stages of the growing mold in a container in order to better explain the idea of mold growth.
I have also found out ways in which penicillin is used, such as treating pneumonia and blood poisoning. There are many common diseases/illnesses that penicillin is used to
treat, this makes you realize just how important this great discovery is, even if it did take a few years to finally be able to use it on people. I called the whole process (from discovering the mold to turning it into medicine) “project penicillin” due to the many obstacles that were put in the way and had to be overcome.
On the flip side, my project will also explain a bit about the negative effects of penicillin. One of these is that your body can readily build up an immunity to the treatment. Controlled, reasonable doses, are helpful to help prevent this from happening (as too much of the antibiotic will mean a quick immunity to it).
I thought that this would be a good science fair project because I wanted to know what an antibiotic like penicillin had to do with mold cultures. I was quite surprised and interested to find out that it was actually produced by an average type of mold. I am hoping that my project will help educate others on the general idea and uses of penicillin, and perhaps its origin will also surprise other people.
