Yeast and Respiration Rates: To what extent does Saccharomyces cerevisiae, baker’s yeast, CO2 production levels (as measured in ppm) vary with the length of different sugars?

Abstract

Saccharomyces cerevisiae, or baker’s yeast, is commonly used for baking alongside sucrose. It is understood that yeast’s reaction with sugar leads to a high emission of carbon dioxide, ultimately increasing the height of baked goods. However, the carbon dioxide production levels at different chains of sugars, including sucrose, glucose, and starch, or monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides, is not well-known. Water was tested as a control group. The paper hypothesizes that as length of the sugar polymer chain increases, the production of carbon dioxide of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, or baker’s yeast, increases. While the results showed a linear trend similar to the hypothesis, the production levels for the starch experimental group were lower than any other experimental group. This paper concludes that there is no statistical difference between the lengths of the sugar chain and the carbon dioxide production rate can be rejected