It helps to first understand a little about mold. Mold is another word for fungi whose bodies gather and congeal together to form cottony vegetative bodies. Not all mold is cottony, however. Types of slimy mold are more like amoeba than their cottony cousins and leave a moister, slicker mass on the molded surface. However when it comes to bread, you will most always see the drier, threadlike mold.



Mold commonly grows on bread faster in warm, dark, moist conditions. However, mold can grow in light, and some molds can even grow on frozen foods. Molds grow in varying conditions, at varying speeds, in every color you can think of.

Not just a disgusting addition to old food, mold can be beneficial in many ways. One of the most common ways mold is used positively is to make antibiotics such as penicillin. In 1928, Alexander Fleming accidentally discovered penicillin when he found mold growing on a discarded petri dish. The mold itself was not the miracle. Fleming discovered that the mold that had grown had killed the Staphylococcus aureus that he'd been growing in that particular petri dish. The rest is history!

Now that you know a little more about bread mold, you can use the ideas below to help you find potential bread mold science fair projects.

Does sodium have an effect on the growth of bread mold?

How and why does mold form on bread?

Is bread mold harmful to the human body if consumed? Why?

What are the optimal conditions for growing bread mold? Why?

Does light have an effect on the growth of bread mold? If so, what kind?

Do certain types of breads mold faster than others?

How to grow bread mold...

Take a cotton swab and collect some dust. Wipe the dust over the bread slices you want to experiment with. Place them in a bag with a few drops of water and seal the bag so the slices don't dry out.

Now you know a little more about bread mold and the types of experiments you can do. You may have an idea of what you'd like to try as a project. Simply by asking questions about things that interest you, you can come up with great bread mold science fair projects that can be fun to do!