Food falls to the floor. It's chocolate and you just can't waste CHOCOLATE! You yell "Five second rule!" quickly grabbing it up off the floor within the allowed time span of five seconds and shove it in your mouth. Are you just deluding yourself OR is it really "safe" to eat?
I remember doing this as a child. For some reason, I honestly thought that the less contact the food had with the dirt or floor, the safer it was to eat.
Last night, my husband and I watched an episode of Mythbusters. Any type of Mythbuster would make a GREAT science project, but the TV show is just plain AWESOME to watch!
Last night they tested the 5 second rule. They took contact dishes (a small circular object which encourages the growth of bacteria) and placed them on different spots on the floor for exactly five seconds. Then they sealed up all the separate containers (labeled with the location they had taken the sample from) and placed it in an incubator at 98.6F (human body temperature) for 24 hours.
They also tested for 2 seconds and 6 seconds, as well as testing actual food touching the ground.
What they found was that the same amount of bacteria grew whether touched for 2, 5 or 6 seconds. They also found an enormous amount of bacteria on each surface tested. However, the top of the toilet seat (the one you actually sit bare bottom on), which had NOT been cleaned before the experiment, had the LEAST amount of bacteria of all the test surfaces.
Lesson learned: the five second rule is busted and not true. And if you have to eat off any surface in your house other than a table, you should eat off your toilet seat. :)
I remember doing this as a child. For some reason, I honestly thought that the less contact the food had with the dirt or floor, the safer it was to eat.
Last night, my husband and I watched an episode of Mythbusters. Any type of Mythbuster would make a GREAT science project, but the TV show is just plain AWESOME to watch!
Last night they tested the 5 second rule. They took contact dishes (a small circular object which encourages the growth of bacteria) and placed them on different spots on the floor for exactly five seconds. Then they sealed up all the separate containers (labeled with the location they had taken the sample from) and placed it in an incubator at 98.6F (human body temperature) for 24 hours.
They also tested for 2 seconds and 6 seconds, as well as testing actual food touching the ground.
What they found was that the same amount of bacteria grew whether touched for 2, 5 or 6 seconds. They also found an enormous amount of bacteria on each surface tested. However, the top of the toilet seat (the one you actually sit bare bottom on), which had NOT been cleaned before the experiment, had the LEAST amount of bacteria of all the test surfaces.
Lesson learned: the five second rule is busted and not true. And if you have to eat off any surface in your house other than a table, you should eat off your toilet seat. :)
1 comment:
Can I just say EEEEWWWW! to the toilet seat thing?? I love watching Myth Busters.
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