The effect of amylase concentration on the breakdown of starch

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The effect of amylase concentration on the breakdown of starch

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For this investigation I am going to investigate the effect of the concentration of an enzyme, in this case Amylase, on the time taken for the enzyme to fully breakdown the substrate, which in this case is starch. The reason why these two enzymes have to be used is because each enzyme is designed specifically to break down only one substrate as each enzyme is made of a protein that causes it to be a specific shape, in this case the enzyme Amylase can only break down starch to dextrin.

        I am going to do this by planning an experiment, carrying out the experiment, recording any relevant results and plotting graphs from which I will be able, hopefully to gain a strong conclusion. I will finally evaluate the whole investigation.

         Before the experiments start we will be given a bottle containing a 1% solution of starch and another bottle containing a 1% solution of the enzyme Amylase. From these bottles I will be able to take out as much of either solution as I wish.

         I cannot start he experiment until I know which factors I am going to change and which I am going to keep constant. Because the thing I am trying to test in the effect of the concentration of the enzyme, the only thing that I should be changing in each experiment is the concentration of the enzyme and nothing else. This will make all of the tests identical (apart from the enzymes concentration) which means the experiment should be accurate and fair. Because of this any differences in the results of my experiment I will be able to put down to the concentration of the enzyme. If I was to use two variables, and there were a difference in the results, e.g. I changed the temperature as well as the concentration of the enzyme and the reaction sped up, I would not know which of the factors had done this and therefore could not reach a valid conclusion.

Things that have to be kept constant throughout all of the experiments

Temperature:- It is vital that the temperature remains the same in all the experiments as this will have a great impact on the results if not. This is because if the temperature increase the amylase and starch molecules will begin to move faster due to the kinetic theory. Because of this amylase molecules will “bump into” and come into contact with the starch molecules more often causing the starch to be taken up by the active sites of the amylase, broken down quicker and the product dextrin released. This will lead to an increase in rate of reaction.

       If however the temperature rises too much (above about 60 degrees) the ionic and hydrogen bonds holding the amylase together will break causing the active sites on the enzyme to become denatured, this will completely stop the enzymes working and therefore the breakdown of starch will stop thus causing the rate of reaction to stop.

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pH Level:- This is again like temperature in the way that every enzyme has an optimum temperature the same as they have an optimum pH. Optimum means the “best” or in this case the best conditions for the enzyme to break down the starch the quickest. If the pH level is at an extreme (in this case strong alkali) the enzyme will be denatured and work at a slower rate or even stop. For this reason the pH will remain the same throughout the experiments so as not to change the rate of reaction. In a more complicated experiment ...

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***This report contains a suggested plan for the experiment only. The rationale for the investigation was discussed but there was little background research and no resource material used. A testable hypothesis was produced and biological knowledge used to explain the prediction. There was some attention to detail in the way variables were controlled but not all were controlled appropriately. The risk assessment was minimal .