Procedure

Step I

First, we had received our algae and all of its corresponding contents. The packet itself consisted of many small items, which are listed above. Next, we followed the instructions listed in the manual provided. The instructions were as followed:

Step II

Dissolve the salts: Pour a bag of salts into a half-liter bottle of drinking water. Shake until it dissolves.

Step III

Add the nutrients: Add the entire vial of the nutrients to the bottle of water. This is now your “culture media”. Make sure to store it in a cool, dark, place.

Step IV

Fill the culture flask with culture media: Fill about half full, around 50 mL

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Step V

Add the inoculum: Cap the culture and shake.

Step VI

Place in light: Place the specimen in dim light for the first 2 days. Avoid direct sunlight (culture can get too hot). A good place to start the culture is next to a light source (a fluorescent bulb) with a timer.

(However, for our purposes, we did not follow this step as to our methodology of fermentation. We wanted to minimize the amount of factors that could possibly affect this life process.)

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Step VII

Shake as often as you can: Shake the culture at least once per day

Step VIII

Refresh the culture: About two weeks after your culture has bloomed, discard half of the culture and refill with fresh “culture media”. This will keep the culture in “log-phase”.

Step IX

We then separated the entire algae culture into four parts. One part for the control group in the flask, the other for fructose in a test tube, the third for glucose in a test tube, and the third for sucrose in a third test tube.

Step X

We mixed these solutions together and set them in a test tube rack.

(In this case, we used rice to hold up the tubes.)

Step XI

After finishing this process, we continued this cycle by regularly weighing the algae on a weekly basis, while also taking many pictures to keep track. We continued this until February 1.

Step XII

For the final analysis of our data, and to complete the second prong of our mission, we had to test for ethanol levels. Essentially, all we had to do was take the difference in masses between two weighing days and that would be the increase in ethanol production. After a few weeks, we took some algae samples and placed them on microscope slides to view cellular composition.

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