Question

What was the purpose of placing the drop of distilled water onto the slide before smearing the bacterial colony onto the slide? What do you think would have resulted if the distilled water was not used?

Answer 1

1. In order to fix the bacterial to the slide;

so that it will not be lost during the staining procedure.

so that false impression or result will not be given by the bacteria in water,

Distilled water is used to prevent contamination with impurities e,g metals ions and crystals.

Explanation.

In smear preparation; the bacterial cells should also be well dispersed,so that they do not clumped together to form' big glob'.(large round masses) The later affect clear field view of the bacterial mophology, affected staining, and therefore gives inaccurate results,

Fixing to the slide also affects the morphology of bacterial cells, through shrinking in size, which can lead to loss of structural characteristics and extra-cellular matrixes,