The effect of temperature on the activity of digestive enzymes.

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Kamal Patel

The effect of temperature on the activity of digestive enzymes.

Aim

To investigate how heat and temperature affects enzyme activity.

Introduction

Enzymes are very specific. They only work on one or two different types of molecule. The molecule that is broken down is called the substrate. Food molecules such as starch are substrates.

        Enzymes are biological catalysts. This means that they speed up a chemical reaction, but are not broken down or changed at the end.

        In this experiment, I will use amylase which breaks down carbohydrates like starch (which we also use) into glucose.

        1. Substrate ‘key’                        2. Substrate fits                         3. Chemical bonds are broken and                        moves into enzyme                enzyme forming an                product molecules are released – the                 ‘lock.’                                enzyme-substrate                        enzyme remains unchanged.                                                         complex.        

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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 ...

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