Sweetness Lab

1. In this lab, we tasted different forms of carbohydrates and  I found that monosaccharides -glucose and fructose were the sweetest and I rated them 150 to 200.  Disaccharides - Sucrose, Lactose, and Maltose were not especially sweet. The polysaccharides - Starch and cellulose were not sweet at all, in fact, they were tasteless.  I noticed that sweeter carbohydrates had granular texture and less sweet ones were powdery.

2. Polysaccharides due to their structure play energy storage and structural roles in living organisms.
Monomers in starch function as energy storage units and  in cellulose as strong protective fibers.

3. I think the rating could differ for all testers  because our ability to taste things and our response is influenced by many things including our individual experiences.

4. We taste sweetness due to nerves in the taste buds. the taste system includes special receptor cells in the taste buds on the tongue and throat and nerve cells and their extension called axons that form pathways to the brain. Once the taste signals reach certain areas of the brain these centers detect and interpret the flavor messages.

Carbohydrate	Type of      Carbohydrate	Degrees of Sweetness	Color	Texture	Other Observations/ Connection to food
Glucose	mono	150	clear white	granular	nutrient for sick people
Fructose	mono	200	clear white	granular	fruit sugar used in drinks
Galactose	mono	75	clear white	powdery	found in dairy products
Maltose	di	50	tan	powdery	after taste and not sweet
Lactose	di	25	white	powdery	also found in dairy products
Starch	poly	0	white	powdery	tasteless and no taste
Cellulose	poly	0	white	powdery	no taste; bland