Materials:
Scissors,
Beaker,
Canned Pineapple,
Raw pineapple,
Pipettes,
Labels,
Tubes in holder,
Buntson burners,
Gelatin
Method:
1. Two pieces of gelatin were cut into smaller pieces and thereafter heated in approximately 100 ml of water in a beaker using a Buntson burner. The process was done carefully, and with caution.
- When all the gelatin was dissolved, the heat was turned off and the solution got time to cool down, approximately 5-10 minutes.
- While waiting for the solution to get cooled down, the pineapple juice is made by cutting a fresh pineapple and blending the pineapple to result in having fresh pineapple juice.
- When 5 ml of fresh juice was made, 2,5 ml was removed from the mix and boiled in a test tube for a few seconds.
- The gelatin solution was put in to every test tube and labelled from 1-4. They were named like following; #1: 2,5 ml tap water
#2: 2.5 ml of untreated raw juice
#3: 2,5 ml of boiled, raw juice
#4: 2.5 ml of canned juice
Results: #1(water) = Solid
#2(boiled juice) = Solid
#3(canned raw juice) = solid
#4(raw juice) = Liquid
Evaluation: The results were as expected. Test tube 1,2,3 were solidified, while the last test tube that contained raw juice kept the gelatin liquid.
The fresh pineapple juice contains the enzyme bromeline, this enzyme breaks down the protein in the gelatin, which doesn’t allow it to form and makes it liquid instead of solid.
The canned pineapple doesn’t contain this enzyme, because of the process it goes through. The pineapple juice is heated up, which destroys the Bromeline enzymes, so it won’t affect the gelatin.
Conclusion: When doing the investigation of the effect of the enzyme Bromeline has on gelatins ability to solidify, it was observed that only the untreated raw pineapple juice was able to break down the proteins in the gelatin.
When heated, the Bromeline enzymes didn’t, have a further effect on the gelatin.