Question

if you were testing to disinfect whose active ingredients had a different molecular weight how would that affect the diameter of the zone of inhibition

Answer 1

Zone of inhibition or Kirby Bauer testing tests the microbial sensitivity to antibiotics. Larger zone of inhibition indicates that the organism is susceptible to the antibiotic. This zone of inhibition depends on many factors such as concentration of the bacteria, thickness of the agar, incubation temperature, and pH. If there are active ingredients with different molecular weight, each of these ingredients diffuse to different distances in the agar and therefore the zone of inhibition will have irregular margins.