Bacteria are also known as microbes and we sometimes refer to them as germs. We mostly think germs are bad but there are good and bad bacteria. In our world today we have ways to kill the bad bacteria but sometimes we kill the good bacteria at the same time.

Some Background on Bacteria

**Bacteria were some of the earliest life on earth.

**Bacteria are single cell micro-organisms.

**Some bacteria are capable of movement while others are not.

**Bacteria can withstand great temperature differences.

**Bacteria are grouped by shape and also by the cell wall type.

**Bacteria are found everywhere and in everything. A spoonful of topsoil has over ONE BILLION bacteria and a square centimeter of skin has an average of 100,000.

**Bacteria can feed on a lot of different and odd food sources. Some eat soil while others eat sulfur. Some get their food through photosynthesis. The bacteria living in your intestines helps to complete digestion.

The Project Experiment

Do we sometimes destroy good bacteria along with the bad?

***Apple Cider and Apple Juice are both apple drinks but apple juice is highly processed so it will last a long time, which is good.
***Apple Cider has almost no processing and does not last very long.
***A bacteria known as "Acetobacter" is required to make vinegar from the juice of apples, which is a good thing too.

Is Acetobacter present in both apple juice and apple cider?

I got apple cider and apple juice and divided it into cups. We observed by sight and smell any changes on a daily basis. My Dad and I both watched the cups and agreed on what we saw and smelled. My chart and the samples both show that even after almost a month, the apple juice had very little change and did not have any vinegar smell at all. The cider had a strong vinegar smell. This shows that the good bacteria called Acetobacter was killed along with the bad bacteria when the apple juice was processed.

Why Is This Important?

In the news lately there are stories of people taking antibiotics to destroy harmful bacteria from wounds or being sick. Antibiotics destroy many of the good bacteria in the intestines and this allows a a harmful bacteria to gain strength and cause a different sickness. The bacteria is called "C-Diff" and it causes damage to the intestines and sometimes even death.

Many Doctors are suggesting that we use too many antibiotics. As we do good, we also do bad. It is not always a good trade.