Lab Report Biology

BIO 122

Fall 2017

Alcoholic Fermentation Lab Report: Do’s and Don’ts for an “A” Lab Report

Introduction: (5 points)

· Must indent for each new concept, idea, and EACH NEW paragraph

· Must be double-spaced

· MUST BE WRITTEN IN PAST TENSE and THIRD PERSON! (i.e. no “I,” “me” or “mine”)

· What is the process of fermentation? Provide a definition in your own words. What are the necessary reactants, products and byproducts of the reaction? Under what conditions does this process occur? Are they aerobic or anaerobic, and what does this mean? What are the final products that are produced in the process?

· What are the different types, alcoholic or lactic fermentation, for example? How do these two types of fermentation differ? Which type of fermentation did we perform our experiment? How was fermentation measured in our experiment? CO2 evolved? Bubble formation?

· What is the real world application of fermentation? What is it used to produce that is commonly used in a household setting? Name or list different products that are the end product of fermentation. Cite outside literature in the Harvard style that is peer-reviewed.

· If a high concentration of yeast and glucose are necessary for fermentation to occur, producing CO2, what does the CO2 indicate? How was CO2 production observed? What are the ideal concentrations of yeast and glucose for fermentation? Why? Why is it that yeast cells require glucose? How is glucose an energy source for cellular work? How does glucose relate to ATP molecules?

· Introduce your variable that you designed in this experiment and provide background information. FOR EXAMPLE, what is ethyl alcohol? Why would it influence the fermentation rate? What is the measure of pH? Why would it influence the fermentation rate? What are the different species of yeast you are using (Candida milleri or sourdough, Quick rise, and champagne yeast) and how is each species different?

· State your hypothesis clearly with reasoning as the LAST sentence of this section.

Methods and Materials: (5 points)

· Must indent for each new concept, idea, and EACH NEW paragraph

· Must be double-spaced

· MUST BE WRITTEN IN PASTE TENSE and THIRD PERSON! (i.e. no “I,” “me” or “mine”)

· What materials were used for the experiment? Respirator setups? How many? Rubber tubing? Clamps or binder clips? 1 mL pipettes? Four small Erlenmeyer’s flasks to create a respirator setup with approximately how much tap water filled? Water bath at 37 degrees Celsius? Test tubes? Yeast solution at what concentration or %? What was the strain or genus species of the yeast used? Did you have to equilibrate your test tubes for 5 minutes first in the temperature environment? Then measure every 2 minutes for a total of 20 minutes per trial?

· What are the actual and initial CO2 evolved values? How did you measure and calculate these values for your data collection?

· How did you measure CO2 production? How did you time this? Did the rubber tubing remain clamped throughout the entire experiment? Why? How did you measure on the pipette as the solution went down?

· Did you do anything differently between Trial I and Trial 2? Errors, adjustments, technique changes? Why?

Results: (5 points)

· Two tables and two graphs required (one for EACH TRIAL) AND a third graph comparing SIDE by SIDE BOTH TRIALS.

· Table 1 should read “Table 1: Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Production Actual and Evolved Measured for 20 Minutes in Alcoholic Fermentation Lab for Trial 1. This table represents both the actual CO2 produced and recorded in each respirator, as well as the CO2 evolved in Trial 1 of the fermentation lab, which indicates…………”

· Table 2 should read “Table 2: Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Production Actual and Evolved Measured for 20 Minutes in Alcoholic Fermentation Lab for Trial 2. This table represents both the actual CO2 produced and recorded in each respirator, as well as the CO2 evolved in Trial 2 of the fermentation lab…………”

· Graph 1 should read “ Graph 1: Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Production Actual and Evolved Measured for 20 Minutes in Alcoholic Fermentation Lab for Trial 1. This graph represents both the actual CO2 produced and recorded in each respirator, as well as the CO2 evolved in Trial 1 of the fermentation lab…………”

· Graph 2 should read, “ Graph 2: Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Production Actual and Evolved Measured for 20 Minutes in Alcoholic Fermentation Lab for Trial 2. This graph represents both the actual CO2 produced and recorded in each respirator, as well as the CO2 evolved in Trial 1 of the fermentation lab…………”

· NO RAW DATA!

· Your graph must be color-coded and have a LEGEND. A legend with “Series 1, 2, 3” will lose points.

· Data should be clearly labeled, with each numerical data value ABOVE each data point on the graph.

· Both axes (x and y axis) should be labeled.

· Your graphs NEED a SPECIFC, DETAILED title.

Discussion: (5 points)

· Must indent for each new concept, idea, and EACH NEW paragraph

· Must be double-spaced

· MUST BE WRITTEN IN PAST TENSE and THIRD PERSON! (i.e. no “I,” “me” or “mine”)

· Was your hypothesis refuted or supported? Why or why not? THIS SHOULD BE THE FIRST OR SECOND SENTENCE IN THIS SECTION.

· Discuss how each respirator set up differed (FOR EXAMPLE: Respirator 1 in the first and second trials had the greatest amount of ethyl alcohol, at 10% ethyl alcohol, and Respirator 4 had the lowest amount of ethyl alcohol, at 1% ethyl alcohol). Why would ethyl alcohol (or your variable that you tested) affect fermentation? What other factors affect fermentation? What are the necessary conditions for fermentation? Why would ethyl alcohol (or the variable that you tested) interfere with fermentation? What happens at the molecular level to either INHIBIT or INCREASE the rate of fermentation?

· What other scientific tests are used to measure this activity? Cite outside, peer-reviewed literature/sources here.

· Discuss if you had to repeat your experiment.

· Discuss potential errors (i.e. human error, pipetting techniques, etc).

· Discuss future direction for if the experiment was to be repeated in the future, how could it improve? What should be done differently?

References: (3 points)

· You must indent each citation properly! The first line of each new citation is NOT indented, but every other line is indented.

· You must use the Harvard format style.

· NO WEBSITES!

· You must use either Google Scholar, the Mortensen Library database, or PubMed for your outside research.

Overall: (2 points)

· Was your writing good? Did you use scientific wording?

· Did you proofread? Were there a lot of typos or grammatical errors?

· Was the paper consistent? Any font changes?

· Did you have a good descriptive title for your lab report?

· DO NOT USE “Fermentation/Cellular Respiration Lab Report.” This is your chance to be creative!