Microbiology question?

Question

Why do you invert agar plates before they go into the incubator??

Answer 1

If you mean placing the plates upside down in the incubator, then this is to prevent moisture from dripping down onto the plate.

After your 16-18 hours of growth, you take the plates out and you see water condensaion on the top of the plate. Well, if that water gets onto the plate, that will hinder the growth of the bacteria. This happened to me once (mistake in the lab), it was not putting the plates upside down in the incubator, but when I placed my transformed competent cells onto the plate and used glass beads to spread the solution out, I had water on the top of the plate and that got onto the glass beads. When I took the plates out of the warm room, I had blank streaks, which meant water got onto the glass beads and that hindered the grwoth of the bacteria.

good luck.