The effects of Temperature on the production of CO2 in Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)

Abstract

Our experiment examined the effects of temperature on the release of CO2 in baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Our group predicted that yeast will produce more CO2 at higher temperatures than at lower temperatures. We tested the yeast in three different temperatures (five degrees Celsius, approximately 21 degrees Celsius, and 40 degrees Celsius) to evaluate which temperature results in an increase in metabolism. Previous JIBI experiments have failed to record the level of CO2 produced by yeast in different temperatures using dextrose as their carbohydrate. For our experiment we recorded the amount of CO2 released by yeast in a room temperature, chilled, and heated environment. After we collected the data we analyzed it to create a graph to test the validity of our hypothesis. We discovered that heat does indeed increase metabolism of the yeast resulting in increased CO2 levels. As a result our experiment demonstrated that temperature is a factor that affects the fermentation of yeasts.