Effect that the temperature has on the rate at which the Amylase (enzyme) can breakdown its starch (substrate)

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Effect that the temperature has on the rate at which the Amylase (enzyme) can breakdown its starch (substrate)

Aim

The aim of this experiment is to find out the effect that the temperature has on the rate at which the Amylase (enzyme) can breakdown its starch (substrate).

Hypothesis

I predict that the higher the temperature the higher the rate at which the enzyme breaks down its substrate would increase until it reaches the optimum point it will then decrease. For amylase the optimum is approximately 40?C. I know this because there are 2 types of amylase which are both found in the human body, the human body is at 37?C so that is why 40?C is the optimum.

As temperature gets higher enzyme activity increases. This is because the movement of enzyme molecules and substrate molecules increases. This causes more collisions between enzyme and substrate and result in the formation of more products. Once the reaction reaches its optimum temperature it is important to maintain it otherwise you can denature the enzyme, which will result in a rapid decrease in enzyme activity. This is because the enzyme can not catalyse the reaction as the shape of the active site has become distorted therefore it can no longer combine with the substrate this is known as "lock and key " theory.

I also predict that the more amylase (controlled variable) there is the quicker the reaction will take I know this because amylase catalyses the hydrolysis of starch.

Preliminary Work

Preparing the calibration curve experiment
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. Switch on the colorimeter to warm it up. Check that the red filter

2. Carry out a serial dilution to make starch solutions with a range of concentrations:

* Take 10 boiling tubes and label 1-10

* In tube 1 measure 10 cm3 of the 0.5% starch solution provided.

* In tube 2 measure10 cm3 of the 0.5% starch solution, add 10 cm3 of water and mix.

* In tube 3 measure 10 cm3 of solution from tube 2 and mix with 10 cm3 of water.

* In tube 4 ...

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