Brainstorm! Things that are too small to see:

Engineering to Reduce the Germs!

How Small Am I? Order the cards from largest to smallest Wavelength of red lightWavelength of UV light

MRSA

Introduction to Bacteria Slide 5: United Streaming video clip Life Science: Bacteria “Infectious Diseases Caused by Bacteria” DAA1-476E-B59D-E6A4F5A98631&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US DAA1-476E-B59D-E6A4F5A98631&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US

Highlights of Bacteria: ► Smallest of free living organisms  You can squeeze a million of them on the head of a pin! of a pin! ► Live in our skin, intestines, nose & throat ► Control every major function in our world  Cycle nutrients  Produce antibiotics  Keep us healthy  Make us sick

Virginia Headlines! “A county in southern Virginia closed its 21 schools on Wednesday to clean them to prevent the spread of a dangerous bacterial infection that killed a 17-year-old high school student, officials said.” (Reulters) MRSA! Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Introducing The Super Bug MRSA! Introducing The Super Bug MRSA! ► Commonly found on the skin or in the nose of healthy people. ► Over the years bacteria have become resistant to various antibiotics. ► MRSA can be transmitted from person to person through close contact.  Skin-to-skin contact when there is a scratch or opening in the skin  Sharing contaminated personal items  Poor personal hygiene  Direct contact with contaminated environmental surfaces  Living in crowded settings

Are You Infected?

What You Can’t See CAN Hurt You! Like MRSA!

That brings us to The science of VERY small things... NANOSCIENCE!

Engineers Look at Surface Properties ►I►I►I►Is it smooth or rough? ►I►I►I►Is it sticky or non-sticky?

What about the properties of surfaces make them harbor bacteria?

EXPERIMENT! Compare surfaces! Reach out and touch!  Wood  Glass  Plastic

Which one is easier to clean? Did you notice that the surfaces have a different properties? Which one is the roughest? Wood Plastic Glass

Take a Look at Why it is the Roughest... Wood Under a Microscope! 10x magnification 60x magnification 200x magnification Wooden Toothpick

To Stick or Not to Stick? ► Materials needed:  4 grades of sandpaper  Bee Bees  Cornstarch  Salt  Water

MRSA Look familiar?

Check Out Your Own Hair ► That’s pretty small, right? ► This is a nanowire wrapped around a strand of human hair.

Engineering Challenge! ► What surface in your school is most prone to harbor bacteria? ► Design a toilet that is less likely to accumulate and shelter bacteria.

Get to Work! ► You have 3 minutes to work in a small group to design the new toilet seat ► Keep in mind what we have discussed about surface properties ► Don’t worry about the cost of materials ► Then we will share our designs

Sani-Seathttp:// Sani-Seat

What do we need to know about surfaces on the nano level? ► That bacteria can be spread through touch ► Different surfaces can be smooth or rough; the rougher surfaces are the more bacteria they will hold ► When we design a product we need to reduce the spread of germs. ► How can be do that? By using an ultra- smooth surface or by not touching the surface at all!

Credits ► Slides 3 & 4: Refer to (PDF) What Is Nanotechnology? By Anna M. Waldron and Carl A. Batt note the addition of the picture of MRSA found at ► Slide 5: United Streaming video clip Life Science: Bacteria “Infectious Diseases Caused by Bacteria” E6A4F5A98631&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US E6A4F5A98631&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US E6A4F5A98631&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US ► Slides 7: Quote taken from Reuter’s article at ► Slide 6 & 8: data from United Streaming video clip Life Science: Bacteria “Introduction to Bacteria” (02:32) ► Slide 9: ► Slides 14 & 15: data from NSTA 2008 Boston Conference; Foundations of Nanoscale Science: Building an Interactive Program to Foster and Assess Learning of Nanoscale Science Concepts Clara Cahill and Cesar Delgado ► Slide 16: images of wooden toothpick at various magnifications ► Slide 17 & 19: Adapted from NSTA 2008 Boston Conference; Foundations of Nanoscale Science: Building an Interactive Program to Foster and Assess Learning of Nanoscale Science Concepts Clara Cahill and Cesar Delgado ► Slide 18: Refer to (PDF) What Is Nanotechnology? By Anna M. Waldron and Carl A. Batt note the addition of the picture of MRSA found at note the addition of the picture of MRSA found at ► Slide 19: Image from NSTA 2008 Boston Conference; Foundations of Nanoscale Science: Building an Interactive Program to Foster and Assess Learning of Nanoscale Science Concepts Clara Cahill and Cesar Delgado ► Slides 20, 21, & 24: Adapted from NSTA 2008 Boston Conference; Foundations of Nanoscale Science: Building an Interactive Program to Foster and Assess Learning of Nanoscale Science Concepts Clara Cahill and Cesar Delgado ► Slide 23:Video clip from Sani-Seat at

Just How Small Is “Nano”? ► A football field simulates magnifying the world by 1 million times. ► At this scale...the thickness of a hair would be the width of the field. ► A red blood cell would be 10 meters. ► A staph bacterium would be just 1 meter wide. ► One nanometer would be just 1 mm!