Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I am doing a variation on the Yeast Buster: Stopping Fungus in Its Tracks experiment, comparing over the counter and herbal antifungal agents, and I wanted to make sure my hypothesis and question were appropriate. My question is, "Which antifungal agent will cause yeast to produce the least amount of carbon dioxide, herbal or over the counter agents?" My hypothesis is, "If I add over the counter and herbal antifungal agents to a yeast, water and sugar mixture, the mixture with the over the counter antifungal agents will produce less carbon dioxide than the mixture with the herbal agents and the yeast, sugar, water mixture alone." Should I add a sentence to my hypothesis about carbon dioxide being produced when yeast grows or metabolizes? Thanks so much for your help!

The hypothesis should be a simple statement of what you expect--that OTC antifungal preparations will inhibit yeast metabolism better than herbal antifungal agents.

The hypothesis has to be a simple declarative statement because that is what you are testing by experiment to either prove or disprove it. You can add whatever you want--explanations or descriptions, rationale for why you think OTC antifungals are better than herbal, why yeast is an ok model for the pathogenic fungi that infect humans and what experiments you plan to do--to the background or introduction but not to the hypothesis.

One tip: Pay special attention to the gluing of the tubing to the bottle cap. Be sure you wait long enough for the glue to dry completely. If the seal is not perfect the CO2 will leak out and your experiment won't work.

Good luck!

Sybee

Thanks for your help and response!

You are welcome! Let us know when you have more questions. If you aren't sure of something, it's way better to ask.

Sybee