Investigating Enzymes

• Amylase


  Enzyme that catalyses the breakdown of starch to maltose
• Investigating the effect of pH on amylase activity

  1. Put a drop of iodine solution into every well of a spotting file

  2. Heat water to 35°C

  3. Add amylase solution and buffer solution with pH 5 to a boiling tube, wait 5 minutes

  4. Add starch solution

  5. Immediately start a stopwatch

  6. Sample the mixture every 30 seconds, add iodine and observe colour change

  7. Repeat with different pH buffer solutions

  8. Control variables
• Rate of reaction


  Measure of how much something changes over time
• Calculating rate of reaction

  1. Rate = 1000 / time

  2. Rate = amount of product formed / time