The Effects of Artificial and Natural Sugars on Carbon Dioxide Production in a Yeast Solution.

Abstract

Yeast fermentation occurs at different rates depending on what is added to it. In this investigation, we observed the different effects that natural sugar and artificial sweetener had on the CO2 release rate. We used sucrose as our natural disaccharide and sucralose as the artificial disaccharide. We added 5mL of .15 M of one sugar to a solution with 10mL of water and .6g of yeast and 5mL of .15M of the second sugar to an additional solution with 10mL of water and .6g of yeast. We also had a negative control solution that had no added sugar but still contained the 10mL of water and .6g of yeast. Through this experiment, we were able to observe and record which type of sugar would yield the most CO2 and which would yield the least. We found that natural sweeteners helped the yeast respire at a faster rate.