It can less than five seconds for hundreds, even thousands, of bacteria to hitch a ride on your dropped food. Wait a full 60 seconds and 10 times the amount of bacteria can appear. How lucky do you feel?

Originally released by Smithsonian Media, 2014. Streaming video file encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on March 10, 2015.

Does the Five-Second Rule Really Work?: Ask Smithsonian (1:00); .