The Effects on Carbon Dioxide Production Rate of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Using Various Sugars

Abstract

S. cerevisiae, or baker’s yeast, uses cellular respiration and fermentation to break down glucose molecules to produce products including carbon dioxide and energy. We are testing three different sugars to see which sugar will cause the yeast to metabolize the fastest and produce the most carbon dioxide. We hypothesize that the yeast will metabolize the fastest and produce the most carbon dioxide with dextrose. For our experiment, we tested sucrose, dextrose, and corn sugar solutions by using a carbon dioxide probe to measure the carbon dioxide production when mixed with baker’s yeast. We found that the sucrose had the highest fermentation rate, which does not support our hypothesis.