What is a petri dish? Petri dishes are laboratory instruments used to study the behavior of microorganisms in a controlled environment. Plates are usually made of glass or plastic and have a round or square bottom. The surface of the petri dish is divided into small circular sections. called a ho...Read more »

How to introduce bacteria into a petri dish Introduce bacteria to the Petri dishes. Once the agar solution has hardened and the Petri dishes are at room temperature, you are ready for the fun part – introducing the bacteria. There are a couple of methods of doing this – through direct...Read more »

The role of recording bacterial growth in petri dishes Record your results. After a couple of days, you will notice an amazing variety of bacteria, molds and fungi growing inside each Petri dish. Use a notebook to record your observations on the contents of each dish and perhaps come to a conclus...Read more »

Why keep petri dishes in a warm and dark place Place the Petri dishes in a warm, dark place. Leave the Petri dishes in a warm, dark place where the bacteria can develop, undisturbed, for several days. Remember to store the dishes upside down, so the bacterial growth remains undisturbed by any wat...Read more »

Why Label and Seal Petri Dishes Once you have introduced the bacteria, you should replace the lid on the Petri dish and seal it with some parafilm or Saran wrap. Make sure to label each Petri dish with the source of the bacteria it contains, otherwise you won’t be able to tell which is whic...Read more »

How to Measure Bacterial Growth in Petri Dishes Bacteria are grown in Petri dishes upon a solid medium known as bacterial agar, where raised, circular colonies form. Unlike an individual bacterial cell, a colony is a group of bacteria large enough to be visible to the naked eye. Bacterial growth ...Read more »

Glass Slide Preparations Some common glass slide preparations in biology are the onion or allium root tip, amoeba, bacteria — coccus or round, spiral and rod shaped, diatoms, frog blood and cells, human blood, skin and hair, and flatworms or planaria. These and other specimens are available...Read more »

How to Stain Microscope Slides There are many methods of staining slides. Stains make it easier to see details that might otherwise be invisible. Simple stains include iodine, crystal violet, or methylene blue. These solutions may be used to increase contrast in wet or dry mounts. To use one of t...Read more »

How to Make a Blood Smear Slide Some liquids are either too deeply colored or too thick to view using the wet mount technique. Blood and semen are prepared as smears. Evenly smearing the sample across the slide makes it possible to distinguish individual cells. While making a smear isn’t co...Read more »

What are wet mount slides Glass slides are also used to prepare specimens for microscopic visualization on the spot. With wet mount preparations, the specimen — microorganisms, plant or animal tissues — is placed in a drop of water or saline at the slide’s center. A microscope c...Read more »

What are Prepared Microscope Slides Prepared microscope slides are glass slides that already have the specimen preserved and affixed to the slide. Very thin sections of the material — tissues or microorganisms — undergo the preservation process, which begins by killing the specimen. I...Read more »

What are plain slides and frosted slides Plain Slides These plain microscope slides are produced from premium glass sheets and offer exceptional quality while providing considerable savings. Available in 3 styles: ground edge, ground edge with safety corners, and beveled edge with clipped corners...Read more »