Enzymes - In this experiment I am trying to find the best conditions for amylase to digest starch.
Introduction:
Enzymes help to turn a substrate into the product. The enzyme has an active site that helps it to recognise its substrate in a very specific way. Just like a key only fits into a specific lock, each enzyme has its own specific substrate. This is called the lock and key theory.
In this experiment I am trying to find the best conditions for amylase to digest starch. I am going to vary the PH from PH6 to PH9 to see which one helps digestion the fastest. This will show which PH enzymes will work best in. I will put 3cm³ of 1% amylase solution, 1cm³ of 0.5% starch solution and 1cm³ of the different acid or alkali I am testing to each test tube. I will then heat them in a water bath to 40º. I will then every 2 minutes test the solution for starch using iodine solution.
I already know that temperature adds kinetic energy to the process so will break down starch faster because the molecules are moving faster and will speed up the process. Despite this there is a limit to temperature because the molecules denature at too high temperatures and will stop working. Another variable in my experiment is pressure which I will not be using but I shouldn’t have any problems keeping the pressure the same throughout my experiment.
Prediction:
I would expect concentration to work in the same way as temperature because this means in a higher concentration there are more molecules to react with each other to break down the starch but there is also a limit with concentration because if the concentration is too high the molecules won’t work.
Therefore predict that amylase will digest fastest at PH7 because it is the same PH as inside your mouth where enzymes would be digested and there should be a high enough concentration for the process to work but not too high so that the process is unable to work.
