applying a simple stain to a bacterial culture is a technique that is used for examining the size shape and arrangement of a specimen it uses a dye to stain the cells making them easier to see under a microscope in this experiment we will demonstrate the steps for applying a simple stain to the bacterial organism Staphylococcus start with a clean microscope slide use a china marking pencil to label one end of the slide with a specimen name draw a circle in the center of the slide because we're using Staphylococcus from a solid source we'll draw a circle about the size of a nickel turn the slide over so that the circle is on the bottom this will prevent the marking from mixing in with the sample add a drop of distilled water to the slide sterilize an inoculating loop by passing it through the flame of a Bunsen burner when the loop is cool touch the bacterial colony and transfer the bacteria to the slide use the loop to mix the cells and the water spread the mixture to completely fill the circle allow the slide to air dry at room temperature the time will vary depending on the size of the smear you will know the slide is dry when you see a thin white haze next heat fix the slide by passing it through a flame three times flood the slide with safranin safranin is a biological stain that will die the bacterial cells red making them easier to see under a microscope be sure to fill the entire circle with the dye leave the stain on for 30 seconds gently wash the slide with distilled water drain off any excess water use Bibulus paper to gently blot the slide dry after the slide has completely air dried the smear will look like a thin red haze here you can see the difference the slide on the left is our stain slide a slide on the right is unstained load the stain slide onto the microscope stage always start with the lowest power objective use the coarse and fine adjustments to bring the bacteria into focus since this is a bacterial specimen we must observe it under oil immersion the Staphylococcus cells look like small red balls sketch the image in your lab notebook now you're ready to go into the lab and perform a simple stain