Prediction
I think that the enzyme will work best at higher temperatures until a certain point where it will become denatured.
Method
Equipment:
- 10 ml Starch, two drops Amylase and a drop of Potassium Iodine Solution.
- Kettle (to heat up water)
- Ice (to cool down the water)
- Boiling tubes
- Beakers
- Spotting tiles
- Thermometer
- Measuring cylinder
- Stop clock
- Pipettes
What I did:
First of all I did a preliminary experiment to see if the amounts of the chemicals worked.
I performed some experiments of which I repeated each one five times. For these experiments I used five different water temperatures; 2°C, 8°C, 25°C, 37°C and 52°C. I took the readings with a pipette every thirty seconds. If starch was still present, I would carry on taking readings until none of it was present. I used Potassium Iodine solution to test for starch.
I started off with the water temperatures of 52°C. Then I added ice to cool the water down. I measured out the starch and put it into a test tube. I put the test tube into the beaker full of warm water. The temperature of starch increased to 52°C which was when I added the starch whilst starting the stop clock.
I repeated this with every water temperature and five times for each one.
We also had to follow safety regulations. For the girls hair had to be tied back. When we were using hot water temperatures, we had to stand up. Also, if something were to break, we were to tell the teacher straight away.
In order to make the experiment a fair test, the same amounts of amylase and starch were used on each experiment. We also had to wash the test tubes thoroughly after each experiment to get rid of any excess starch or amylase.
Results
Justification
My prediction was correct: ‘that the enzyme will work best at higher temperatures.’
Conclusion
My results matched up with my prediction, although there was one anomaly at the point 25, 84. We found out that the enzyme works best at 52°C. We also did an experiment at 80°C but the enzyme was denatured so I did not put it into my results table.
Evaluation
On one of the experiments I realized that I did not wash out the test tube. So I had to start all over again. When picking the range of temperatures, I should’ve picked more evenly spread temperatures. I also should’ve experimented with more temperatures to give me more results. I also should’ve kept the temperature of the amylase constant or the same temperature of starch. If I do the experiment again I will take these points into consideration.