Hello, my name is Allete.
A week ago we had finished an experiment about the effects of temperature and pH on salivary amylase, I already passed my report about it. However, my teacher had one question that we weren't able to answer. It was about the results of our experiment. We know that the optimum temperature of Salivary Amylase is 37˚C(the body temperature). Any temperature higher than that, the structure of Salivary Amylase is denatured because more kinetic energy is applied. Kinetic energy makes the molecules vibrate and collide with each other. The more the kinetic energy, the more times the molecules collide with each other and this destabilizes the structure.
However during our class' experiment, our results were different.
The class was divided into groups, and each group was assigned one temperature and one pH. The temperatures we used were 4˚C, Room Temperature, 37˚C, 50˚C, and 70˚C.
Here are the results.
As you can see the optimum temperature in our experiment is 50˚C and that the reaction time for the 37˚C is even slower than what was recorded for the room temperature (32˚C). We looked for any possible errors in the way on how we did the experiment.
We do know that:
•The saliva for the enzyme solution used for the whole class was gathered from one person only, he also has a fast metabolism.
•The water bath for the 37˚C was set up by the lab technicians and was maintained in that temperature for the whole duration of the class, we even used it for the effect of pH.
We argued that the test tube used for the 37˚may not have been washed properly, or that the group who did the experiment made a mistake but my teacher won't accept them as valid. We tried looking for other possible errors but we can't find any more.
My question is that what are other factors that can affect the reaction time of Salivary Amylase when it is at optimum temperature?