Breathing Fungus
Capture the breath of a fungus!
What you need:
- glass bottle
- 1 package of dried yeast
- sugar
- warm water
- large bowl
- balloon
- rubber band
What do you do?
- Blow up the balloon a few times and let the air out.
- Warm up the glass by pouring some warm water into the glass jar and swirling it around. Pour the water out.
- Dump the yeast into the bottle.
- Add 1 teaspoon of sugar to the bottle. Swirl.
- Add 1/2 cup of warm water to the bottle. Swirl the contents around.
- Cover the neck of the bottle with the balloon. Use a rubber band to hold the balloon in place over the neck of the bottle.
- Fill a large bowl with warm water. Stand the balloon covered bottle in the warm water.
How does it work?
Yeast is alive. It is made of living cells. Yeast is a fungus, just like mushrooms. We use yeast to bake bread. Fungi provide a critical part of nature's continuous rebirth: fungi recycle dead organic matter into useful nutrients. When you add the warm water, the yeast feeds on the sugar. As it feeds, it breathes. Yeast breathes out carbon dioxide which fills the balloon.
You have now captured yeast breath!
