Purpose The purpose of this lab is to determine whether there is an optimal level of sugar added to well water for the added yeast to produce the largest volume of carbon dioxide.
Background Information What is yeast? Yeast, whose scientific name is Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, are single-celled organisms that are a part of the fungi group. Yeast is very capable of alcoholic fermentation, where yeast cells primarily break down the sugars glucose, fructose, and sucrose. The two end products of this fermentation are carbon dioxide and ethyl alcohol, which are then released into the surrounding area. When bread is being made, alcoholic fermentation is what is used …show more content…
Each enzyme has its own sequence of amino acids, and this is what determines the structure and function of the enzyme. Every enzyme has its own specific function and breaks down only one type of material, so there are no unknown side effects. Enzymes are specifically built to only break down one singular type of material, meaning if yeast were put in with sugar and sodium, only the sugar would be broken down by the yeast. This means that enzymes are easy to control and manipulate in order to get certain results. …show more content…
The average circumference ranged from 15 cm for 2 grams of sugar added, to 26.83 cm for 128 grams added after six hours. The mixtures that contained 2 grams, 16 grams, 32 grams, 64 grams, and 128 grams all had the average circumference increase from six hours to twelve hours, whereas the mixtures containing 4 grams and 8 grams decreased; however, after 12 hours, the mixtures containing 2 grams and 16 grams began to decrease along with the 4 gram and 8 gram mixtures. The balloons on the mixtures containing 2 through 16 grams continued decreasing in circumference after 12 hours until the end of the experiment, whereas the balloons on the mixtures containing 32 through 128 grams of sugar continued increasing in circumference throughout the entire experiment. This is likely due to the mixtures containing 16 grams and less running out of sugar to break down, causing the balloons to decrease in size, and the mixtures containing 32 grams and more had enough sugar to continually break it down through the entire