What is Fermentation?

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Introduction:
Fermentation a metabolic process with occurs in the absence of oxygen molecules also known as an anabolic reaction. It is a process of glycolysis in which sugar molecules are used to create ATP. Fermentation has many forms the two most known examples are lactic acid and alcoholic fermentation (Cressy). Lactic acid fermentation is used in many ranges from food production such as bacteria to its use by fatigued muscles in complex organisms (Cressy). When experimenting with organisms such as yeast which was done in this experiment you follow the metabolic pathway of Alcoholic fermentation (Sadava). Where the sugar molecules are broken down and become ethanol (Sadava). But the end product of fermentation is the production of ATP, it allows for a small amount of energy to be produced to keep up metabolic functions while the system in question replenishes its oxygen.
Yeast cannot ferment without a substrate, the substrate most widely known is glucose. There are many ways you can observe fermentation. Alcohol, ATP and CO2 are all measureable products of fermentation. The most easily measurable by the common eye is gas production. Showing how much CO2 that is produced can a relation between fermentation rate and time. There are factors that can affect the rate of fermentation, such as temperature, substrate concentration, and pH level. This experiment focuses on how much fermentation can occur under certain conditions.
Levels of pH will change the rate at which yeast ferments and produces CO2. Every biological reaction occurs at some optimal levels within ranges of pH, temperature, light whatever the factors for that reaction maybe. So we must test all levels we can think of to find that optimal range and see how differ...

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Huang H, Guo X, Li D, Liu M, Wu J, Ren H. Identification of crucial yeast inhibitors in bio-ethanol and improvement of fermentation at high pH and high total solids. Bioresource Technology [serial online]. August 15, 2011;102(16):7486-7493. Available from: Academic Search Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed February 23, 2014.
Sadava, David E., David M. Hillis, H. Craig Heller, and May R. Berenbaum. Life: The Science of Biology. 10th ed. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, 2014. Web.

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