Can Licking Envelopes Make You Sick? By Joe Ienna and Brendan Quinn = ?

INTRODUCTION Problem- So it is time to send out Christmas cards, but as you begin to lick the envelope, you are afraid that there might be harmful bacteria growing on the part of the envelope that you lick, and by licking it you may risk the chance of being sick for the holiday season. Could this possibly be true? Hypothesis- If you lick an envelope, you may get sick

METHODS & MATERIALS The following materials were used in this experiment: - 2 Envelopes - Cotton Swab - Test Tubes The following procedure was followed during this experiment: -One envelope was treated with water, and the other envelope was not -Both envelopes were swabbed with the cotton swab and the samples were each placed in a separate test tube and incubated

VARIABLES The following variables are present in the experiment Independent Variables- Whether the envelope is or is not treated with water Dependent Variables- The amount of bacteria that is present on the envelope Controlled Variables- The kind of Q-Tip used to swab the envelope and the environment the materials are in EXPERIMENTAL GROUP The envelope with water and the envelope without CONTROLLED GROUP The environment and the Q-Tip

After several days of incubating, the test tubes containing the samples looked like this- RESULTS Water No Water As you can see, there is no evidence of bacteria growing in the agar of the of the test tubes This means that no harmful bacteria is found on the envelopes, whether they are treated with anti-bacterial soap or not Therefore, the Myth is Busted

MYTH?