Experiment to Investigate the Effect of Copper Ions on a Solution of Amylase and Starch using Iodine

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Experiment to Investigate the Effect of Copper Ions on a

Solution of Amylase and Starch using Iodine

PLANNING

Aim

Copper ions are heavy metals therefore copper sulphate (CuSO4) is likely to be an inhibitor. This is since heavy metals are known to be inhibitors having an effect on enzyme functioning. In this experiment I will investigate how a range of copper sulphate concentrations affects the ability of the enzyme amylase to hydrolyse starch into maltose.

Hypothesis

I predict that as I increase the concentration of CuSO4 the more time it will take for the enzyme amylase to hydrolyse starch into maltose thus the rate of reaction will decrease. This is since the Cu2+ is likely to alter the shape of the active site of amylase hence reducing the enzyme's ability to catalyse the reaction.

I know that as I double the concentration of CuSO4 twice the volume of copper ions will be present for the same given volume. This therefore means that the chance of the copper ions colliding with amylase will increase by a scale factor of 2. The chance of a collision is random but doubling the concentration of