Name_____________________________________________

Living Environment

Redo

Grade
Grade

/20
/20

Lab # _________
TITLE- Is Yeast Alive?
OBJECTIVE- Humans use yeast every day. It can be easily purchased at the
grocery store. But what exactly is yeast? Is it a living thing? Does it perform all
of the 9 life functions? And if so, how will we observe them?
Turns out that yeast is a unicellular microscopic fungus. So yeast is, in
fact, alive! Although it looks inert, a package of yeast consists of a multitude of
living organisms, scientifically called "micro-organisms". The yeast cell is eggshaped and is not visible to the naked eye. Its size in fact does not exceed 6 to 8 thousandths of a
millimeter, barely bigger than a pinhead! A 1 cm cube weighs around 1g and it alone contains more
than 10 billion living yeast cells! There are several yeast species. The most well-known is
Saccharomyces cerevisiae. However, there are many other types of yeast. Yeast often conjures up
the world of baking in people's minds. However, by selecting strains and developing multiplication
techniques, yeast finds many other applications in such varied activities as food processing,
flavoring, pharmaceuticals, animal health, etc.
In this experiment we will carry out an investigation to indirectly test for yeast metabolism.
More specifically, we will be testing whether yeast can use energy and produce waste products
(respiration & excretion). When yeast, humans, and other living organisms use energy, they break
down high-energy molecules like sugar to get the energy they need and give off a gas called carbon
dioxide as a by-product of this reaction. If we can supply yeast with the proper conditions (food,
water) then the yeast should be able to make energy and give off waste products such as carbon
dioxide. We can then capture the carbon dioxide to prove life functions are occurring.
PRELAB QUESTIONS1. What is yeast most popularly used for?

2. How are we going to attempt to prove that yeast is alive?

3. What evidence will we collect?

HYPOTHESIS- _________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
MATERIALS- 1 yeast packet per group, 4 test tubes, beaker, glass stirring rod, sugar packets,
balloons
PROCEDURE
1. Set up 4 test tubes in a test tube rack.
2. Label each tube with a number, 1-4. Test tubes 1 and 2 will both have yeast, sugar, and
water. Test tubes 3 and 4 will both have only yeast and water, with no sugar.
3. Fill a beaker with 40 ml of WARM tap water. Add 1 packet of dry yeast to the beaker a little
bit at a time, mixing the yeast thoroughly with a glass stirring rod before adding more.
4. Pour the yeast solution so that there is 10 ml of solution in each test tube.
5. Add a packet of sugar to test tube 1 and the other half to test tube 2. DO NOT add sugar
to test tubes 3 or 4.
6. Add 10 more ml of WARM tap water to each test tube.
7. Cover the opening of each test tube with a balloon to catch any gas that is formed. Using
the balloon to seal the end of the test tubes, hold a finger of the end of each test tube and
shake vigorously to thoroughly mix the contents.
8. Observe the test tubes and record your observations carefully in the table on the next page.
Observe what occurs in the test tubes and any changes in the balloons which cover each
tube. Record your observations in the data table every 5 minutes for 25 minutes.
Identify the following:
Independent Variable___________________________________
Dependent Variables___________________________________
Control Factors (3)________________________________________________________________
Control Group_________________________________________
Experimental Group____________________________________

DATA
0 minutes

Test Tube 1
w/ Sugar

Test Tube 2
w/ Sugar

Test Tube 3
w/o Sugar

Test Tube 4
w/o Sugar

5 minutes

10 minutes

15 minutes

20 minutes

25 minutes

ANALYSIS QUESTIONS
1. Explain the significance of the following:
a. Test tubes with sugar & without sugar

b. 2 test tubes in each group rather than 1

2. Briefly discuss your observations. How did the test tubes with sugar differ from the test
tubes without sugar?

3. Why did sugar cause this change in the test tubes?

4. Explain how the following life functions were displayed in this lab.
Respiration-

Excretion-

5. List one other life function, besides excretion & respiration, and explain how we could do an
experiment to observe this life function in yeast.

6. Is yeast a living thing? Explain how you know.

Include a conclusion paragraph

Restate the purpose
Restate the hypothesis.
Was your hypothesis supported by the data?
How can we improve this experiment?
What other questions can we ask?
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