Pasteurization for Kids! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bacteria gets into it from outside sources and grows on it

During Pasteur's time, a lot of scientists believed that food went bad because of 'spontaneous generation of life.' In other words, they thought that food made bacteria after a while. In fact, for a long time they even believed that other animals like maggots and mice were 'spontaneously' generated as food went bad! Pasteur put broth inside special glass containers called 'swan-necked flasks' and made sure that no dust could get inside--he kept the broth a long time, and it didn't spoil! This helped to back up Pasteur's belief that 'life comes from life,' that food goes bad because bacteria from elsewhere got into it and grew on it.

Answer: Milk

The method is called "pasteurization" after Louis Pasteur, and involves heating the milk up enough to kill bad bacteria growing in it, and then cooling it down before the milk itself gets cooked. This has made milk much safer to drink, and lets you keep it in your fridge for a few weeks before it goes bad.

Some people still like to drink unpasteurized milk, which is often called 'raw milk'. They believe that it is better for you, but there are no good studies done by scientists to show that this is true. Drinking raw milk can make you sick, so it is best to stick to the pasteurized stuff.

Answer: Vaccinations

The word 'vaccination' is based on the Latin word 'vacca,' which means 'cow'. Edward Jenner is credited with inventing the first vaccination, although it wasn't called that at the time. Edward Jenner created the first smallpox vaccine, using the much milder cowpox. Pasteur himself made vaccinations for chicken cholera, rabies, and anthrax.

Answer: Silkworms

The silk industry was experiencing a great deal of trouble as several parasitic diseases damaged the silkworms they depended on to make beautiful fabrics. Pasteur was able to show that it was microbes that were causing the problem, and help the silk farmers to eliminate the diseases from their precious worms.

Answer: Oxygen

It's true! Some bacteria don't need oxygen in order to survive. These bacteria are called 'anaerobes.' Many anaerobes will even die if they are exposed to too much oxygen. Bacteria are truly amazing, and can be found surviving in just about any environment. Anaerobic bacteria are necessary to the process of fermentation which is used in the production of some foods and drinks, that's how Pasteur discovered them!

Answer: Washing your hands

Pasteur's lifetime of studying microbes that make people and animals sick led him to believe that hand-washing could help prevent the spread of disease. This didn't stop him, however, from doing daring things like sticking his hand in a rabid dog's mouth.

Answer: The non-identical mirror-image nature of some molecules

Chirality is an important property that occurs when a molecule and its mirror-image are not the same, and therefore cannot be 'super-imposed'. You can see how this might work by looking at your hands. They are mirror-images of each other, but you can't perfectly overlap them--your thumbs will be on opposite sides. Pasteur discovered this when he noted that he could separate a pure substance into two parts, and a light shown through them would come out at two different angles.

Answer: Joseph Lister

Joseph Lister managed to cut down the number of deaths resulting from bacterial infections that patients got when bacteria entered their bodies during surgery. Lister discovered that carbolic acid could be used to clean instruments between surgeries, and soak bandages used to wrap surgery sites. During Lister's lifetime, surgeons often did not clean instruments or even wash hands between surgeries!

Answer: Charles Darwin

Pasteur felt that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution was not supported by the scientific evidence. However, now we know that Darwin's theories are supported by the vast majority of scientific evidence, including a lot of evidence from microbiology. For example, the theory of evolution explains why some diseases are hard to make vaccines for, because they change too quickly. Even Pasteur wasn't perfect!

Answer: Art

Pasteur was not thought to be very good at school, but went on to make some of the most important discoveries in history. His work solved some mysteries, and has saved countless lives. Not bad for a man who was once a not-so-great student!