BIOLOGY

Effects of salivary amylase on starch

            Introduction

            Enzymes to a human body they are the best components which assists in speeding up chemical reactions.  For that reason it means that they assist in speeding various human chemical reactions a person encounters each day. Basically these enzymes assist in building as well as altering some of the chemical reactions which happens in a human body.   The specific essence of these chemicals is to assist in adding respiration, food digestion, nerve and muscle function, amongst thousands of other functions (Cheeke & Dierenfeld, 2010).

On the same note, salivary amylase plays a crucial role in enhancing digestion. Other than making food easy to swallow, salivary amylase assists in breaking food into starch. This in return assists in easing the work of the pancreas (Lieberman, 2009).

                        Aim

The aim of this experiment was to examine the effect of salivary amylase on the reaction between iodine solution and starch

            Hypothesis and reasoning

Due to the fact that three experiments will be carried out, each one of them will give different results. Iodine ions will slip into starch in the first test tube with no salivary amylase. This will cause the solution to have an intense blue-black color. Adding salivary amylase to the second test tube, the same result will be obtained as in the first one. In the last test tube, it is expected that a clear orange solution will be obtained on the test tube due to the decomposition of starch by salivary amylase.

            Variables

Dependent- reaction between starch and iodine

Independent- the presence of salivary amylase

            Procedure

Place 2ml solution of starch in the three test tubes and label them

To the first test tube, add one drop of iodine solution and observe the reaction

To the second test tube, add 1ml of salivary amylase immediately after one drop of iodine solution and observe the reaction

To the last test tube, add 1ml of salivary amylase and give it 30 minutes for the reaction to take place before adding one drop of iodine solution. Then observe the reaction to taking place

 

4. Results

                     6

                   5.5

                     5

                   4.5

                     4

                   3.5

                     3

                     2.5

Average         2

                    1.5

                      1

                    0.5

                               1     2       3       4      5       6      7        8      9       10                       X-axis

                                                           Rate (%)

 

            In the first test tube, the solution turned black because of the reaction between iodine and starch. The reason as to why the reaction was accelerated is because iodine ions merged with the starch molecules hence acting as the main pigment. By giving the mixture time to react, it implies that starch was broken down into sugars (Lieberman, 2009).

             In the second test tube, there was no time for the salivary amylase to react on starch molecules. To the third solution containing starch and salivary amylase, a clear golden solution was obtained. The reason for that is because starch was broken down into sugars. On adding iodine solution, there was no time for it to react with the solution. This is what made the mixture to turn into a clear solution (Cheeke & Dierenfeld, 2010).

 

                                   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                References

Cheeke, P. R., & Dierenfeld, E. S. (2010). Comparative animal nutrition and metabolism. Wallingford, Oxfordshire: CABI.

Lieberman, . (2009). Lippincotts illustrated q&a review of biochemistry. Lippincott Williams And Wilkin