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Varying Temperature Lab Report

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The Effect of Varying Temperature and pH on enzymatic activity of α-amylase Introduction
An enzyme is a biological molecule which acts as a catalyst for chemical reactions without being altered in the process. Enzymes have a defined three-dimensional globular structure composed of approximately 100-500 amino acids. The first enzyme to be discovered was diastase which catalyses the breakdown of starch into maltose by the French chemist Anselme Payen in 1833.
An enzyme substrate is the material which interacts with an enzyme. An enzymatic reaction occurs if there is a substrate present and if the active site of the enzyme is empty, generally an enzyme will only react and bind to a specific substrate or group of substrates. Enzymes are not …show more content…

If an enzymes active site is altered it cannot function and is therefore denatured.
The objective of this experiment is to analyse the effectiveness of alpha-amylase reacting with 1% Starch and NaCl under varying temperatures and pH. The effectiveness of the alpha-amylase is measured by recording the amount of starch present during varying stages of the reaction.

Method
The experiment was carried out in two parts, reaction rate verses temperature and reaction rate verses pH. For reaction rate verses temperature five test tubes were labelled with temperatures, E 0°C, E RT, E 37°C, E 60°C and E 100°C for the enzyme alpha-amylase. Another five test tubes were also labelled with the temperatures S 0ºC, S RT, S 37ºC, S 60ºC and S 100ºC for the substrate 1% Starch and NaCl.
A pipette was used to move 2ml of the substrate into each of the corresponding five test tubes and 2ml of buffer solution, pH 6.8, was added into the five substrate test tubes (S 0ºC, S RT, S 37ºC, S 60ºC and S 100ºC). The same amount of enzyme was transferred into its corresponding test tubes (E 0°C, E RT, E 37°C, E 60°C and E 100°C). The corresponding enzyme and substrate test tubes were equilibrated to their corresponding temperatures. Both the test tubes E 0°c and S 0°c were cooled down to 0°c using a beaker of ice and a thermometer. The room temperature test tubes were already

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