How Temperature Affects Enzyme Reactions

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How Temperature Affects Enzyme Reactions I am planning to perform an experiment to find out how and if temperature affects the rate of which enzyme reacts. The enzyme I will be using will be amylase. Amylase is an enzyme that breaks down starch so we will test at what temperature the amylase will break down the starch at the quickest time, therefore looking for the enzymes’ optimum temperature, at a temperature lower than the unknown optimum the amylase will work slower meaning more time taken to break down slower, how ever if heated too much, unlike in other reaction were heat usually speeds up reactions, but in an enzyme it will become less effective once the optimum temperature is passed until it stops working at which we can say the enzyme has become denatured. Prediction Based on my knowledge I believe that the enzymes will breakdown the starch quicker and quicker as the temperature is increased until the optimum temperature is passed, at which it will slow down then not work at all as the enzyme would have became denatured. The Variables Controlled The controlled variables are the things that I must keep the same to keep the experiment fair. In this experiment I will have to keep the amount of substrate the same, amount of amylase the same, my timing apparatus and heating apparatus. Even though the last two wouldn’t seem to matter, for a fair test they must be kept the same. Independent This is the one thing in an experiment that I can allow to change to keep the experiment a fair test. In this experiment it will be the temperature. I will measure in minutes. Ill be measuring how long it takes for the starch to be broken down be the enzyme. In this experiment I will take readings at 6 different temperatures. I can then look at the class results to use as repeats, use to average my results and to see if any of my results were too far out, possibly meaning an anomaly.

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