Biology IA

An analysis on the effect of sucrose concentration on the

amount of CO2 produced in yeast fermentation
 Table of contents
Research question ......................................................................................................................................... 3
Background .................................................................................................................................................... 3
Aim ................................................................................................................................................................. 4
Motivation ..................................................................................................................................................... 5
Hypotheses .................................................................................................................................................... 5
Variables ........................................................................................................................................................ 5
Controlled variable ........................................................................................................................................ 6
All variables chart .......................................................................................................................................... 6
Materials ........................................................................................................................................................ 6
Chemicals ....................................................................................................................................................... 7
Method .......................................................................................................................................................... 7
Risk Assessment ............................................................................................................................................. 9
Raw data ........................................................................................................................................................ 9
Processed data .............................................................................................................................................10
Data analysis ................................................................................................................................................11
Conclusion....................................................................................................................................................12
Errors and Improvements ............................................................................................................................12
Research question
Does the different percentage of sucrose affect the rate at which fermentation happens in yeast
(Saccharomyces cerevisiae) respiration?

Background
Yeasts are a type of fungi that use anaerobic respiration, otherwise known as fermentation.
Anaerobic respiration is respiration without the use of oxygen. In fermentation glucose is broken
down into carbon dioxide, ethanol or alcohol, and energy as shown in image 1.

Image1

Yeast itself only uses the energy that is released from this reaction and the other two products are
not used .these products are commonly called waste product. Although the yeast does not use the
other products it still releases them, so we can benefit from this. Some uses of yeast are listed in
image 2.

1 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Yeast-energy-metabolism-Yeasts-have-two-pathways-for-ATP-production-
from-glucose_fig3_273511895
 2

Image 2

To produce the products the previous materials are prepared and then the yeast added to finish
the product. For example to bake bread first we have to mix four, yeast, and sugar. Then let it sit
for the yeast to produce CO2 that makes the bread puff up. After that we bake it and it’s done. A
question here would be that why don’t we get effected by the ethanol (alcohol) produced by the
yeast. The reason is that when we bake the bread the yeast is killed and the ethanol is evaporated.
Another example would be how beer is made by using a barley seed and putting it in water then
adding yeast for the ethanol and the CO2.

Aim
The aim of this investigation is to find the effect that the concentration of sucrose will have on
the respiration of yeast through the process of fermentation or otherwise known as anaerobic
respiration.by measuring the amount of carbon dioxide produced from the reaction we can
observe how much of an effect sucrose will have on the reaction if any at all.

2 https://ib.bioninja.com.au/standard-level/topic-2-molecular-biology/28-cell-respiration/yeast-fermentation.html
Motivation
Well my mom has always been against fast food, and make whatever food we want that is made
in a fast food place her so that we know what ingredients are in the food. It’s also a lot healthier
to make your own food. And there are many foods that require bread such as pizza and a type of
bread that we make in the south of Iran called litak, so I got to see my mom prepare and make
the food and one part of it was obviously making the bread. So what my mod dis was add flour,
yeast, milk powder and sugar.

Whenever the ingredients were mixed my mom put in under a blanket and let it sit. After a while
when we picked it back up there was almost double the amount of dough. My mom also told me
that sugar mas one of the main ingredients to the mix and back then I didn’t know why and I was
very curious to find out, so when the opportunity appeared for me to do a biology experiment I
choose this one to find out how and why the sugar is so important for the dough mixture.

Hypotheses
When the concentration of sugar in this case sucrose increases, the yeast will have more reactant
to use for this process thus releasing more and more amounts of carbon dioxide until we add too
much sugar and we start suffocating the yeast at this point the rate of carbon dioxide production
will decrease.

Variables
variables

independent the mass of sucrose added to the mixture

dependent the amount of CO2 released from the reaction

Variable table 1

Independent variable

The independent variable in this experiment is the amount of sucrose added to the mixture. The
amount goes from (0g to 36). A balance was used to accurately measure the amount of sucrose
added to the mixture. The amount might sound random but I choose these amounts because they
are percentage of the amount of water in the conical flask(300ml).the percentages are 0%, 3%,
6%, 9%,and 12%.

Dependent variable

In this experiment the dependent variable is the amount of CO2 produced by the fermentation
reaction. A 500±5ml graduated cylinder was used to measure the amount of CO2 produced. The
 way that the CO2 is visible is because graduated the cylinder was filled with water before hand
and tipped around over a box full of water.

Controlled variable
Controlled variable Method of control
Room temperature All the doors and the windows were closed.AC
was on and was set on 24 so the temperature of
the room was 24°C
Temperature of the water added With the use of thermometer the temperature
was measured as 40°C in the water bath.
Size of the conical flasks All of the conical flasks were 500ml
Amount of yeast added 10g
Amount of water added 300 ml is added to each conical flask
Brand of the yeast used Bruggeman instant yeast
Type of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Size of graduated cylinder 500±5 ml

Variable table 2

All variables chart

type of variables
variable
controlled Room water size of amount amount brand type size of graduated
temperature temperature conical of of of of cylinder
flask yeast water yeast yeast
dependent amount of CO2 released from the reaction
independent mass of sucrose added to the reaction
Variable table 3

Materials
• Conical flasks 500ml
• Spatula
• 250±2 ml graduated cylinder
• 500±5ml graduated cylinder
• A large tray
• Thermometer
• Timer
 • Lab notebook
• Pen
• tube
• metal stand
• clamps
• aluminum foil
• marker
• pipet
•

Chemicals

• sucrose
• Dry yeast (10g)
• Distilled water

Method
1. Arrange the apparatus, label them .
2. Fill the beaker with 300ml of water.
3. Place the beaker in a water bath and set the temperature to 40°C.
4. Fill a large graduated cylinder (500±5ml) fully with water, then put the palm on top of
the graduated cylinder and invert it upside down into the baker that is filled with 4 liters
of water.
5. Use a metal stand and clamps in order to hold the graduated cylinder in place.
6. Prepare a 500ml conical flask.
7. Measure the amount of sucrose needed (0g,9g,18g,27g,36g)
8. Measure the amount of yeast needed(10g)
9. Connect the chronicle flask to the graduated cylinder with a tube
10. Pour the measured sucrose into the beaker that is in the water bath.
11. Stir until completely mixed
12. Check with thermometer to see if the solution is at the desired temperature (40°c)
13. Pour the solution into the flask
14. Pout the yeast immediately after
15. Close the lid of the flask
16. Set a 20 min timer
17. After 20 mins note the amount of water displaced
18. Repeat until we have all the data we need

Materials
Step17

Step 7&8
Step3
Risk Assessment
Safety issues:

• While handling the graduated cylinders and the conical flask be very cautious not to
break them
• When inserting the cap on the conical flask, don’t exert much force so it won’t break
• When holding the graduated cylinder in place by using the metal holder, don’t close it
tightly, otherwise it would break

Ethical issues:

• There were no ethical issues to be taken into account

Environmental issues:

• There were no environmental issues to be taken into account

Raw data
No sucrose was applied to the conical flask in the first experiment (controlled experiment). The
rest of the experiments were compared with this first experiment in order to detect the changes.
After setting up the experiment for several minutes, CO2 gas was emitted and collected at the top
of the graduated cylinder. The volume of CO2 gas was determined by the measurement of the
amount of water displaced. The volume of CO2 gas was determined by the measurement of the
amount of water displaced. In the remainder of the tests, 5 separate quantities of salt have been
added to the conical flasks. Each experiment was replicated five times, and the average was
taken out of it.
 Volume of CO2 produced (ml)
Trail group Conditions Trial #1 Trial #2 Trial #3 Trial #4 Trial #5

controlled No sucrose 45 48 50 52 55
A 3% sucrose 82 81 83 85 91
B 6% sucrose 90 93 100 103 109
C 9% sucrose 92 96 106 110 113
D 12% sucrose 84 90 98 99 102
Table 1 the volume of CO2 produced over 20 mins in different concentrations of sucrose

Processed data
1) The average volume of CO2 produced for each test group in each trial has been found:

𝐭𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞
Average = 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬

Example: sample group B

(90+93+100+103+109) 495
Average Volume = 5
= 5 = 99ml

2) The standard deviation of the carbon dioxide produced in each test group was calculated using
an online calculator (calculator.net)
Trail groups Mean of water displacement(ml) Standard deviation

controlled 50ml 3.4

A 84.4ml 3.5
B 99ml 6.8
C 103.4ml 8.0
D 94.6ml 6.6

Data analysis
As we can observe from the graph the amount of CO 2 increases when the sucrose concentration
increases. But suddenly it decreases in the last test. For example, in test C the average is 103.4
and in the next test the CO2 emission suddenly decreases this happens because the amount of
sucrose is too much.
Conclusion
The goal of this experiment was to analyze the effect of sucrose concentration on the amount of
CO2. We saw from the experiment that when there is more sucrose presents the CO 2 production
increases but if we add too much it is going to become slower and slower until it reaches a point
where the uptake rate of the water becomes the limiting factor. This is shown when in the final
test in which after all the previous test increasing it starts to decrease this shows us that we are at
the point in which it is slowing down and if we add more after that it will slow down more and
more until it reaches a certain amount in which it will stay still at that amount. Thus, confirming
my hypothesis about the experiment.

Errors and Improvements

Every experiment has its limitations, may it be the supplies that it needs of the inevitable errors
that humans make. This might be very vexing for someone that wants exact proof and a perfect
experiment but after all we are all humans and human beings are bound to make mistakes. That’s
why we try to learn from them instead of just making them again and again. This experiment is
no exception there are problems with this experiment that could be fixed, but on the other hand
the experiment has its own strengths too.

Strengths of the experiment:

1. The equipment used were very common and easy to gain access to
2. While waiting for the waiting part of the experiment we could get everything ready for
the next trail.
3. The materials needed to conduct the experiment were also common and easy to find.
4. There were no environmental or ethical issues about this experiment
5. There were a very low amount of issues with safety
Sources of error
not all of the yeast is being
added to the conical flask
There were fluctuations on the
amount of water added to the
conical flask
There was few seconds of
elapsed time between adding the
yeast to the conical flask,
mixing it, and inserting the cap
The volume of CO2. that is
measured is not that accurate
Reason for the error Improvement
A specific amount of yeast got A new sheet of aluminum could
stuck to the aluminum and be used to transfer the yeast to
didn’t get added to the conical the conical flask
flask
While measuring the amount of Slow down and focus on the
water needed the water may experiment
have been moving causing the
wrong measurement of the water
After adding the yeast to the Make a small hole on the cap of
flask, it must be stirred to have a the conical flask only big
homogenous mixture of sugar, enough for the stirring rod that
yeast, and the water, so this would let us to stir the mixture
takes few seconds and some gas without letting any gas to
may have escaped and it could escape.
not be shaken because the tube
might come out and even if it
did not the yeast was too thick
to get mixed with the water
purely by shaking.
The graduated cylinder is not Use a more accurate method for
that accurate. measuring the volume of CO2.
For example using a gas syringe.
Bibliography
• Yeast fermentation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhwUc84xBZA

• Image 1

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Yeast-energy-metabolism-Yeasts-have-two-pathways-for-ATP-
production-from-glucose_fig3_273511895

• Image 2

https://ib.bioninja.com.au/standard-level/topic-2-molecular-biology/28-cell-respiration/yeast-
fermentation.html