8Ad(2)
Amylase action
Name _________________________________________ Class _______________ Date
_________________
How does temperature affect how enzymes work?
Amylase is an enzyme found in saliva. It breaks down starch, turning it into a sugar. You are going
to investigate how temperature affects how well amylase works.
Prediction
1 At what temperature do you think the amylase will work best? Tick the correct box.
 0–10°C  35–40°C  60–100°C
Explain why you have chosen this temperature. _____________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Apparatus
 amylase solution
 beaker of water (to
wash out the pipette)
 iodine solution
 pipette
 six test tubes
 starch suspension




stopclock
test tube rack
two syringes
three water baths at
different temperatures
 well tray or spotting tile
 eye protection
Wear eye protection.
Method
A Using a syringe, put 5cm3 of starch
suspension into each of three test tubes.
Put these tubes into three water baths at
different temperatures.
B Using another syringe, put 1cm3 of amylase
solution into three more test tubes. Put
these into the three water baths.
C Start the stopclock and time 5 minutes. While you are waiting, use the pipette to add one drop of
iodine solution to each well in the well tray. Wash out the pipette when you have finished.
D After 5 minutes, pour the amylase into the starch suspension in each water bath and swirl the
tubes to mix the contents.
E Immediately take one drop from a tube with the starch and amylase, and add it to a well in the well
tray. A blue/black colour shows that starch is there. Wash out the pipette before taking each drop
and test all three tubes in this way.
F Reset and start the stopclock. Repeat step E every
2 minutes. Fill in your results on the next page.
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8Ad(2) Amylase action (continued)
Recording your results
2 Use this grid to record your results. Place a tick in the grey boxes if a blue/black colour
appeared.
Temperature of
tube (°C)
Time after adding amylase (min)
Considering your results/conclusions
3 a At which temperature do you think the amylase was working best? __________________________
b How do you know this? __________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
4 a Does this result agree with your prediction?
b Explain why you think the amylase works best at this temperature.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Evaluation
5 How would you improve this experiment to find more accurately the temperature at which
amylase works best?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
out a safe investigation draw a conclusion
I CAN...  carry
evaluate the accuracy of my results.
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