Designing your own experiment to debunk the ‘five-second rule’

We’ve all been there. You’re excited to take a bite out of your lunch, but then it drops on the floor. You quickly pick it up, but — is it safe to eat?

In Eureka!Lab’s second DIY Science video, science education writer and resident scientist Bethany Brookshire puts the five-second rule to the test. Bethany finds that bacteria don’t really wait for the count of five. If food has fallen, it probably has microbes all over it.

The video and accompanying blog posts walk you through how to design an experiment, grow your own microbes, and analyze results to test whether food left on the floor for only five seconds picks up fewer microbes than food left longer.

View the video below:

Read the blog posts:

• The five-second rule: Designing an experiment
• The five-second rule: Growing germs for science
• The five-second rule: Myth busted?
• The five second rule: Microbes can’t count

Happy experimenting! And hang onto your food.