In this FACTivity, you will explore the bacteria living in the soil near your home or school. The question you will be answering is: What kind of bacteria live in different kinds of soil?

Materials:

• 4 clear plastic 2-liter soda bottles with labels removed
• Enough clear, sturdy plastic wrap to cover the bottles
• 4 rubber bands
• Markers
• Masking tape
• 2-gallon bucket
• 1-cup measuring cup
• Tablespoon
• Paint stirrer or other stirring utensil
• 4 small buckets of soil or mud, each collected from one of four different sources (like a pond, garden, stream, forest, yard, etc.)
• 4 small buckets of water, one from each place you collected the soil (use distilled water for soil collected from a dry place)
• 4 sheets of newspaper
• 1 cup of powdered chalk (crush several pieces of chalk or you can buy powdered chalk at a hardware store