Guillermo PazEffect of Temperature on the rate of reaction

24/03/15

THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON THE

RATE OF REACTION OF SALIVARY
AMYLASE
TITLE
Enzymes are found in living cells where they act as catalysts for the thousands of
chemical reactions taking place. Enzymes have numerous applications that affect
our daily lives, for example they enable us to digest food. The investigation was
completed to show us how temperature effects the activity of the enzyme, salivary
amylase. How does temperature affect the rate of reaction of salivary amylase? The
activity should escalate until reaching a certain temperature, in which the enzyme
will denature.
Method:
1. Place 2ml of saliva is test tube, place the test tube in the water bath with ice to equilibrate.
2. Place 2ml of starch solution in a second test tube and place it in ice to equilibrate.
3. After 5 minutes of equilibrating, put the starch solution in to the saliva test tube.
4. A sample of the reaction mixture is removed with a glass rod every 30 seconds and added to a spot
of iodine solution on a white paper.
5. Record the time taken to reach the end-point, this means when no blue-black or reddish brown
coloration occurs.
6. Repeat stages 1-4 at a series of temperatures as follows:
7. In ice (record temperature of reaction mixture)
20C
30C
40C
50C
60C
70C
Apparatus:
Test tubes
Glass rid
250ml flask or beaker
Measuring cylinder
Stopwatch
500ml beaker
Solution of iodine in potassium iodide
Ice

Guillermo PazEffect of Temperature on the rate of reaction

24/03/15

Variables Table:
Variable
Amount of drops of enzyme into
iodine.
Amount of drops for iodine spot
Time for colour to change
Temperature

Type Of Variable
Control
Control
Dependent
Independent

How To control
Each 30 seconds put 2 drops of
enzyme into iodine. No more.
Make the spot 3 drops big.
Temperatures indicated in the
method.

Risk Assessment & Safety:

Iodine is a harmful substance, be careful when manipulating it. Might want to were gloves and
goggles.
Hot water can be very harmful, never produce the experiment sitting down. Be careful when
transporting or manipulating the hot water.
Ethical and environmental considerations:
The experiment requires a lot of water, try and use the same water for the whole experiment. If this
damages your results, use more than one beaker of water but try and keep the water use to the minimum.
Iodine can be harmful for the environment, keep it in its beaker at all times when not using and be careful
when using it.
Results:
Temperatur
Time
e (degrees
(minutes) Celsius)
11
10
6
20
7
30
9
40
0
50
0
60

The results in the graph clearly show how at very low temperatures the enzymes are not very effective.
Then as the temperature goes up they start to get larger rate of activity. At very high temperatures (50) the
enzymes denature and do not work anymore.
Conclusions:
Results support the hypothesis stated in the introduction. As the temperature increased the time taken for
the colour of iodine to change colour became lower, this shows enzyme reaction. When the temperature
over past 30/40 degrees Celsius the enzyme reaction was cero, as the colour did not change until the

Guillermo PazEffect of Temperature on the rate of reaction

24/03/15

iodine solution diluted with the high quantities of saliva and starch. This shows that the hypothesis was
correct.
Proposals for extension:
The question might need further research as we used saliva from only two people, meaning we could not
have a wither range of peoples saliva and results. Also there were many errors made during the
experiment.
Modifications and improvements: how the errors and limitations listed previously could be reduced or
eliminated - be scientific and exact in this section.
The experiment explored has a lot of limitations. For example: The type of saliva used for the
experiment. The time of day saliva samples were taken. This was after lunch; food might of
affected the enzyme. The saliva was only picked from two different persons.
Errors: A 30 seconds difference between each sample of saliva and starch taken from the test tube
was a very small window so the amount added to the iodine after minutes was very large, meaning
the solution could easily become dilute. Temperature could not be kept the same, so 5C were
added to the actual temperature experimented. As time passed the temperature decrease to the
temperature needed.