Data Collection: For this lab we had to verify the levels of maltose in each test tube. Each of the test tubes containing amylase were placed in water boiled at different temperatures. Starch was added to each of the test tubes which remained in the water (heated). Iodine was added to determine the levels of starch in the solution. The results are shown in the table below:
Data Analysis: Working through this experiment I have analyzed the effect temperature has on digestion due to the amylase. With test tube A, 35°C, the solution was a light blue-black. As we increased the temperature, first to 40°C and later to 50°C, the solution got a bit darker. At 50°C, the solution was bordering on almost being completely black. From the results, I made the following analysis. Amylase reacts with starch to produce maltose. This means that, the more amylase there is the more starch will be converted into maltose. Noting that Iodine reacts with Starch to turn it blue-black, from the table, we can see that as the temperature increases, the color of the solution gets darker. This is because as the temperature increases, it moves away from the optimum temperature, where the starch will react with amylase to produce the most maltose. Therefore, as the temperature moves away from the Optimum temperature in either direction, the solution will get darker. As the temperature decreases from that optimum level, the amylase enzymes will become inactive. Therefore, more starch will be present to react with Iodine to make a dark blue-black color. The same concept to the temperature, increasing away from the optimum level, except that the amylase enzyme will become denatured, and inactive.
Conclusion: There are many things with this experiment that I realize I could have done better. Primarily, are the chosen temperatures that I drew my results from only show one side of the data. The temperatures I chose were too high, and didn’t give me enough of an indication as to where the optimum temperature was. Ideally, if I were to do this experiment again, I would choose lower temperature values - 20°C, 30°C and 40°C. This way I could amylase my results better. Another error in this experiment was that the amount of amylase and starch we mixed might have been inconsistent. The dropper might not have given us the precision we would like when measuring the amount of starch and amylase to add to the solution. Next time, I will pour the starch and amylase into separate measuring cylinders, before using them in the experiment. Personally, this experiment was very interesting and helped me understand better the lesson we are learning.
