Microbiology : Making Agar Plates.

Introduction to Microbiology class : our tutor is mr.robert, at 1400 hours, we were assigned to do a simple practical on making Agar plates. we were told to divide ourselves  into 3 groups. My practical partners for today were Amaliah and Dalilah. There were 3 types of Agar mixtures, and we chose china blue. because we were so interested with the color. LOL. ^ ^

1. Sir Robert  wrote out on the board and explained about the procedure.
2. The procedures on how to make agar plates.
3. Amaliah & Dalilah weighted the required agar powder. we only need 7g and with it we can make10 Agar plates.
4. shows the type of Agar powder we used. China Blue.

1. After we weighted the powder, we mixed it with 200ml of distilled water.
2. Then the next procedure was to heat it up, so that the mixture is fully dissolved. heat the mixture until you can see bubbles of steams.
3. next thing we did was, we poured the mixture into a bottle.
4. mixture is ready to be autoclave.

1. This  is an autoclave, Most buffers and other solutions used in any lab are sterilized before use to prevent bacterial and fungal growth during storage. we inserted the bottle of mixture into the autoclave.
2. We heated the bottle at 121 degree Celsius.
3. This is how the interior of an autoclave  looks like.
4. To prevent the solutions from boiling over/vaporizing, the autoclave chamber is pressurized during this process.

1. Dalilah inserted the bottle into the Autoclave. Make sure the cap of the bottle is loose.
2. The pressure Gauge.
3. this is when the pressure increases. the bottle have been inside the autoclave for 25 min. its time to take the bottle out.
4. the bottle is hot, so we used tap water to cool it down before we pour the agar solution into the petri dishes. but be careful, cause if you over cool it, the agar may solidifies in the bottle before you could pour it out.

1. we took 10 petri dishes and we labelled them. We used "CB" to present  "China Blue".
2. 10 petri dishes ready to be used.
3. here is where we carried out the procedure of pouring the solution into the petri dishes. 
4. petri dishes in ques ^ ^

we took turns in pouring the solution into the petri dishes.

1. the photo of other group's Agar.
2. our Agar were sealed into a clean plastic.
3. we put the sealed petri dishes into the lab fridge.

Agar is the gelatinous substance that sits inside the petri dishes used by scientists and students alike. Agar is the perfect substance for biological experiments as it holds up to bacteria and doesn't disintegrate easily. ^ ^