Although after the temperature increases above 37°C the time taken for the amylase to break down the starch does not decrease. When the temperature increases from 37°C-40°C the time does not decrease but increases from 20-25seconds. Also when the temperature increases from 40°C-43°C the time again increases from
25-58seconds. This information proves my first hypothesis to be partly correct; because as the temperature rises from 31°C-37°C my hypothesis is proven correct as the time taken for the amylase to work decreases from 35-20seconds showing that as the temperature increases the amylase works faster. But above the temperature of 37°C the taken starts to increase which is where my hypothesis is incorrect.
In my second hypothesis I predicted that; ‘the temperature that amylase will break down starch faster will be at 30°C because this is the temperature that amylase works best at.’ I can now see that this prediction was wrong as amylase does not work best at 30°C; I can tell this, as the time taken for the amylase to break down the starch is not the shortest so cannot be the ideal temperature. I can now tell that amylase works best at 37°C at this is temperature the time taken is the shortest showing that 37°C is the best temperature for the amylase to work at. This is because the brain keeps our body temperature at around 37°C as this is the ideal temperature for enzymes to work at, therefore the amylase will break down starch fastest at 37°C.
My final prediction from my hypothesis was that; ‘between 38°C and 43°C the amylase will become denatured and slow down the speed at which starch is broken down into glucose.’ My results show this statement to be correct as when the temperature rises from 38°C-43°C the time taken for the amylase to break the starch into glucose increases from 20-60seconds, which shows that the enzymes have denatured.
I consider my results to be reliable as the results are logical. You would expect the enzymes to take less time to break down the starch as the temperature, 31°C-34°C the time decreases from 35-seconds. You would also expect the enzymes to take more time to break down starch as they become denatured after 38°C.
In my results, I can identify some results to be anomalous. At 31°C the time taken for the amylase to break down starch into glucose are 36, 36 and 33 seconds; the anomalous result is 33 seconds as this is less than would be expected. You would think that the result would be nearer to 36°C as these were the results in the other 2 experiments. Similarly at the temperature 43°C the times taken for the amylase to break down the starch into glucose are 57, 57 and 60seconds; the anomalous result is 60seconds. This is higher than you would expect as you would think that it would be nearer to 57seconds. These anomalous results might be caused by a few things. The cause might be in the fault of the Method; there might have been too much starch in the tube, which would result in the time taking longer for the amylase to break down the starch. There could have been too much amylase added to the solution, which would result in the time for the starch to be broken down into glucose to decrease. Also to make the results incorrect the time which was meant to me recorded every 3 seconds might have been recorded inaccurately causing the time for the starch to break down the glucose to be recorded wrong. Even though some of these results show to be anomalous the average time taken for the starch to be broken down into glucose still seem to be logical.
I think that the procedure that was used to carry out this experiment was suitable as it gave us logical and satisfactory results. To make this investigation more reliable, I would repeat the experiment more times; this would give more results to give a more accurate average. I would also do the experiment at more temperatures to give a more acceptable and just result; I would start the temperature lower and finish higher getting a more just graph from which you would be able to tell the temperature at which the enzymes become denatured and there best working temperature. Enzymes would work better when there are more of them, so to test them in different volumes might give a more accurate result. I would investigate at which volume amylase works best at, as well as at which temperature, to see whether these two factors affect each other; such as if there were less amylase but at a higher temperature would they break down starch quicker than more amylase at a lower temperature? Another factor which affects the break down of starch by amylase is the pH level; I would test the starch with universal indicator to see its pH level, and then see at which level the amylase works best by using different pH levels of starch, then add this to the investigation. With these three factors added to the experiment there might be a different result in the table with the perfect pH level and the right amount of amylase in ratio with the starch and the temperature.
