Essay On The Effect Of Temperature On Enzyme Activity

Enzyme activity increases as temperature increases. Inversely, enzyme activity decreases as temperature decreases. At higher temperatures molecules move faster causing them to collide more. Therefore, enzymes collide with their substrates more at higher temperatures and the opposite at lower temperatures. When the temperature gets too hot, however, the enzyme will denature meaning its shape will be changed to the point where it can no longer bind with its substrate. This experiment will show the effects of temperature on enzyme activity of an amylose enzyme.

First three water baths should be set up. One bath should have ice to keep it at about 5° C. One bath should be kept at room temperature, approximately 37° C. The last bath should be boiled and kept at about 100° C. Amylase is an enzyme that hydrolyses starch to produce glucose. After the baths are established, the next step is to make a starch solution. Add 1 g of cornstarch to 10 mL of distilled water. Then dissolve the mixture in 50 mL of boiling water. Then collect 1 to 2 mL of saliva in a test tube, saliva contains amylose, and add 50 mL of water. Put 4 mL of the starch solution in each of three test tubes. Also, put 4 mL of the amylase in each of three different test tubes. Place one starch solution test tube in each of the

water baths for ten minutes. Do the same for the amylase solution test tubes. After ten minutes, pour the amylase solutions into the starch solution test tubes. Keep the test tubes in the water baths for ten more minutes. Place four drops of each mixture onto separate spot plates and add one drop of iodine to each sample. Iodine turns blue when it comes into contact with starch, but it stays yellow in the presence of glucose. The faster the iodine turns yellow, the faster the amylase works on the starch.

The enzyme tested in this experiment is amylose, it breaks down starch.

The independent variable in this experiment is the temperature. The temperatures vary to test the effect of temperature on the rate of enzyme activity. The dependent variable in this experiment is the rate of enzyme activity. The rate of enzyme activity depends on the temperature. The control variables in this experiment are the starch solutions and the amylase solutions. The solutions are kept the same throughout the experiment and there are three of each to create a larger sample. The equipment used in this experiment include water baths, a hot plate, test tubes, and a thermometer. The only unit used in

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