Aim: To investigate the ideal conditions for enzyme action

A Brief description of how enzymes work:

Enzymes have one specific job and one specific substrate. The lock and key theory suggests that there is only one key per lock and this is a good way of explaining about enzymes. Here is an example:

Each enzyme has a certain place where they will produce a product. Examples of digestive enzymes are:

The protease enzyme (pepsin) acts on proteins and produces amino acids – Acid in the stomach is needed.
The amylase enzyme acts on carbohydrates and produces sugars.
The carbohydrase enzyme acts on starch and produces glucose.
The lipase enzyme acts on fats also known as lipids and produces fatty acids and glycerol – bile is needed, bile breaks up fat and neutralises the stomach to slightly acidic.

Factors that could effect the experiment:

Temperature: Temperature will effect my experiment in two ways, if it is too hot the enzymes will be denatured. Denatured means the bonds in the enzyme break and the enzyme loses its shape and it can no longer do its specific job. If however it is too cold the enzymes will not have enough energy to react.

pH: The pH in the stomach is usually acidic, only the enzymes used to this pH will be able to react in these conditions.

Surface area: The surface area is important because the larger the surface area the more enzymes can act on it, which makes it easier and quicker to break down the food.

Amount of food used: The bigger the size of the food (if the same amount of enzymes are acting on it) the slower it will take.

Processes:

Ingestion: This is where the food enters the mouth, in the mouth the food is chewed ...