-1Achala Wijeratne

Biology Lecture 110 Professor Dhar 10 December 2011 How Long Can Milk Stay Good When Not Refrigerated? Hypothesis If milk is not refrigerated, I hypothesize that it will last, at most, 1 day before it starts to spoil. Background Information Fresh milk has a natural pH of about 6.7, meaning it is already slightly acidic. We keep milk refrigerated because cold air slows down the activity of bacteria. If you put dairy in the freezer, it would completely stop all bacteria activity and technically you would be able to store it for months; ice cream, for example. The purpose of this experiment is to discover just how fast the bacteria does move when not refrigerated. This can be measured by taking the pH level of the un-refrigerated milk every couple of hours and track when it starts to go even more acidic, and the rate at which it sours. This will let us know how fast the bacteria is working, and how much of an impact it has. Curdled milk has a pH of 5.3, and at that point, the milk is completely rotten and unsalvageable, deeming it spoiled. Materials 8 pints of milk 8 beakers Refrigerator Cool area Sunlit Area (or any area which will constantly stay lit) Area which constantly stays at room temperature pH testing strips Procedures 1. Fill all 8 beakers with 1 pint of milk each. 2. Make 4 groups of two beakers and label both beakers by which groups they are in (1,2,3 and 4) 3. Place each set of beakers in its respective testing areas, shown below.
Beaker Group 1 2 3 4 Testing Area Refrigerator (control group) Cool Area Lighted Area Room Temperature Area

4. Record the starting pH of all beakers of milk

*They should all have the same pH in the beginning 5. Test the pH levels every 3 hours. Note! You are testing the pH of the milk until it reaches the acidic level of 5.3 6. Record the pH levels of each group and take not of which groups are turning acidic fastest, and which on reaches 5.3 first. 7. Keep testing until all groups (except for the control group) have reached a pH level of 5.3, or have leveled out and are no longer undergoing change. Expected Results I expect that group number 3(lighted area) and 4 (room temperature area) will become acidic the fastest. The milk placed in the lighted area will most likely start deteriorating the most and fastest of them all due to the fact that it is in the setting which has the most heat, compared to the other groups. Group 2 will still turn acidic, but at a slower rate than group number 4. It is no being refrigerated, however, it still has somewhat access to cooler air, so the bacterial activity might not move as quickly. The control group will, of course, stay the same. If these results do not occur, I will be extremely surprised, though many things can be due to error. It all depends on the actual temperature in the testing areas. While it would be easier to set certain temperatures at which the groups of milks should be kept, that would not be the point of this experiment. I am not testing at which temperature milk curdles, but what happens when milk is not refrigerated, but left out in different settings.