I predict that the enzymes might not work best at body temperature and will not denature at 90°C. This is because the trypsin solution has a different concentration from the enzymes within our body.
I predict that the more trypsin there is the faster it will digest the gelatin. This is because the more enzymes there are the more particles will collide and react digesting the gelatin quicker.
Fair test: This experiment will be a fair test if we put in the same amount of trypsin in the test tube. To make it a fair test we used a pipette filler stuck on a graduated pipette. This gets an accurate measurement of trypsin in ml. Also we could put in the same amount of water in the beaker. What might be useful for the experiment to be fair we could start the stopwatch at set time synchronizing a point when we put in the test of trypsin and photographic film.
Apparatus:
Thermometer
Beaker Trypsin
Kettle Photographic film.
Pipette filler
Graduated pipette
Test tube
Method: In our experiment we firstly have to put water in a beaker at a set temperature. To make it a fair test we have to measure the water we put in which was 100cm³. We got the temperatures of water by boiling water in a kettle. For low temperatures we let the water cool down or we poured some water out and put in some cold tap water leaving it 100cm³. We then got some trypsin and put 5cm³ in a test tube. We also put 5cm³ of water in the test tube to give it the trace elements it needs as the concentration isn’t as same as the concentration of enzymes in our body. We then put a piece of photographic film in the test tube with trypsin then put it in the beaker with the set temperature of water. As we put the test tube in the beaker we will observe the photographic film to see when the film turns transparent. We did this for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90°C. We then repeated the experiment 3 times to get 3 sets of results. To make this a safe experiment we will wear goggles so the trypsin doesn’t get into our eyes as it will dissolve it. We will record our results by plotting the times we get from the stop watch into a table.
Results:
Graph 1
Graph 2
Graph 3
The results show that the lower the temperature the higher the time. All the graphs show this pattern of lower the temperature higher the time. As the experiment was done we noticed that the enzymes worked best between 50°C and 90°C. Our prediction was wrong in the sense of it working at body temperature. This was because the concentration of the enzyme solution was different to that of the concentration in our body.
Conclusion: In conclusion we found out that the enzymes worked best at high temperatures and not at body temperature due to the difference in concentration level. We got one odd result on graph 3 as the last point of result shows that it goes takes longer for the film to turn transparent at 90°C. This anomaly might of occurred because a window might have been open making the water turn cooler quicker or we might of forgotten to take the temperature of the water. Overall the average time tells us that the higher the temperature the faster the enzyme will work.
Evaluation: We could use a number of improvements to our method as we could use a concentration of an enzyme solution close to the enzymes in our body. I don’t think our results show a firm conclusion as it did not obey the rules of biology in the sense of the enzymes did not work best at body temperature and it did not denature at 90°C.