Varying Levels of Sodium Phosphate Did Not Significantly Effect Ethanol Production in Saccharomyces Cerevisae

Abstract

In this experiment, we tested the effects of varying levels of sodium phosphate on the production of ethanol by yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisae). We hypothesized that as the levels of sodium phosphate increased, the production of ethanol would also increase because phosphorous is a key component in the formation of yeast DNA. To test this hypothesis, we ran four trials under the conditions of no sodium phosphate present, natural levels of sodium phosphate, and high levels of sodium phosphate. Each of these varying concentrations was tested under room temperature conditions. Our results showed no significant difference in ethanol production rate at varying levels of sodium phosphate. Therefore, we concluded that our hypothesis was not supported.