Enzymes can be temperamental and can be denatured easily if conditions are wrong. This can be for various reasons. pH levels are important to enzymes they need to be kept at an optimum level to insure they survive. If the pH level is to high or low this will cause the enzyme to become denatured and if the temperature is to high or low this will also have the same effect of denaturing.
Hypothesis
In my prediction for the experiment I would expect to see that once the milk is heated at a low temperature and the renin is added that it will take some time for the reaction to place. But once the temperature begins to raise the reaction time will speed up to a point, hence causing the milk to clot faster. But I can also foresee that once the temperature reaches a certain point this will also render the enzyme denatured. Kinetic energy will also pay a key role in this test by making the particles move more vigorously causing more impacts to take place. Hence the higher the temperature the faster the molecules move.
Preliminary
Before the experiment was carried out it was important to find the volume of renin and milk, which would give us the best results. Increasing and decreasing the amounts of substances used at varied heat settings showed us that the best results were happening at variables of 10°c so then we decided on the following temps of 30°c, 45°, 55°c, 80°c.
Method
For this experiment we took a total of 16 test tubes using a 5ml syringe 2mm of milk were placed into each of the tubes, these where then labelled for the relevant temperature to avoid confusion. Four water baths where then pre - heated to temperatures of 30°c, 45°c, 55°c, 80°c. a thermometer was used in each of the baths to ensure that the temperature was monitored at the required level to make the test fair.
Once the water baths had reached the required heat setting, four of each temperature samples where added to each of the water baths where they where then left for ten minutes.
Once the samples had reached the required heat and removed from the bath’s they where then transferred into a test tube rack to keep the sample stabilised. Immediately once removed two drops of the enzyme renin where then added into 3 of the test tubes leaving the forth one to remain with just milk and no renin. This was used as the control to prove that the renin was responsible for the reaction that has taken place. Once the renin was added a stopwatch was then activated to measure the reaction time between the milk and renin transforming the liquid to a solid substance. To help the reaction take place the test tube was lightly aggravated to help the sample mix.
Results
Conclusion
As per my hypothesis it is evident from the table that my assumption is correct, That the reaction was at its fastest at around the 45°c mark. This is due to the fact that as the temperature increases or de-creases the enzyme will start to denature causing the reaction to slow down tacking the sample longer to coagulate. As the body’s temperature always is around the 37°c with very slight variables, this shows that the most amount of kinetic energy is apparent at this point causing the most collisions between the various molecules.
Evauation
As can be seen from the experiments, the test was successful in proving the effects of temperatures on the enzyme renin. Although there were some minor factors that could stop the experiment from being fair, A main factor in this was the water baths that where being used for the experiment where getting old and unreliable it was hard for us to maintain a steady temperature. This caused the results to become unsteady. Other factors that could be seen to have a negative effect on the out come were the amount of solution being used. In the preliminary working we found that if too much milk was used it would be difficult to determine weather the milk had started to clot or not, freshness of the milk also could have played a negative role. If the milk was old and began to turn sour this could have been confused for a clot encouraged by the renin.
