User:Daniel Catt/Notebook/Protein Biofilms Exploration/2011/05/27
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This is a continuation of the previous day's experiment.
At approximately 16 hours after the proto-films were poured, they were briefly analyzed and photographed. The sample placed under the hood was very much desiccated, much more so than the incubated sample. The surface was unevenly textured and dried. The surface on which it was placed was not level. The incubated sample was more evenly textured but less dry. The incubator is more humid than both the fume hood and the oven used in the paper and allowed the film to dry much more slowly and smoothly as a result.
At approximately 24 hours after pouring, the samples were again analyzed and photographed. There had not been significant changes in the appearance of the samples, except that the incubating sample had developed an interesting ridged texture on its surface to to contraction from desiccation. It also had a thin, oily film on its surface that was easily rubbed off to reveal a shinier surface beneath. This might have been microbial growth of some kind. The samples were scraped with a metal spatula to analyze the physical characteristics of the film. The hood sample had a very brittle film that came up in flakes or sheared up in rolls as the spatula moved across the glass. The flakes were dull in luster on the top, exposed side and shiny, waxy on the bottom. The incubator sample, though identical in composition, took on very subtly different characteristics. Running the spatula underneath the edge of the film brought up long pieces of thin film along the wall of the petri dish. Working into the bottom of the dish, the progress was halting at first, but once the oily attraction the film had to the glass was overcome, most of the film could easily be removed. The protein was very flexible in that it could be rolled up tightly without breaking or cracking. The film was greasy on the bottom as well.