Experimenting with temperature and lactase

Cam, Joy, Anna and Jaxson

April 18th, 2019

Purpose:

The purpose of this experiment is to see how temperature affects the rate of an enzyme driven reaction. By heating each test tube to a different temperature, we are hoping to get different results on a Diastix

Hypothesis:

If the temperature of the water is increased, then the Diastix will read that there is more lactase in the milk because warmer temperatures are ideal for the enzyme lactase to be in to work best.

Materials:

• 1 Beaker
• 6 Test Tubes
• 6 Test Tube Stoppers
• Milk
• Hot Plate
• Lactase
• Diastix

Methods:

1. Fill all test tubes with exactly 10 mL of milk and place in test tube holder (Make sure they are labelled)
2. Fill one beaker with 100 mL of water
3. In each test tube add 3 drops of lactase
4. In the first test tube dip one of the Diastix to get a base result
5. For the second test tube set the temperature of the hot plate to 7 and heat up the water to roughly 25 degrees and let the test tube sit in the water for 3 minutes.
6. After 3 minutes has passed dip the Diastix into your test tube and collect your data.
7. Repeat this process for the rest of the test tubes (3 – 6) and increment the temperature 5 degrees

Results:

Data Analysis:

As you can see in the graph the comparison between Temperature and Concentration of Lactase it starts relatively low in test tubes 1 & 2 however as the temperature was increased the Level of Lactase increased and proceeded to stabilize at roughly the same level (3 – 6).

Conclusion:

Overall, our hypothesis ended up being correct and with that the lab was very informative in how enzymes can work better in warmer temperatures. The evidence is clear that as you raise the temperature the concentration of glucose raises.

Error/Improvements:

To improve on this lab, some things we should have changed were things such as the number of drops used in each test tube and the amount of milk that was put in the test tubes. We agreed that the number of drops should have been decreased by 1 and the amount of milk increased to 25 mL of milk instead of the original 10 mL

Concluding Questions:

1. In terms of maximizing diffusion, what was the most effective size cube that you tested?

In terms of maximizing diffusion, the most effective size cube that we tested was the smallest one

2. Why was that size most effective at maximizing diffusion? What are the important factors that affect how materials diffuse into cells or tissues?

It was most effective because the size allowed the base to get into the entire cell much faster. The smaller it is, the easier it is to penetrate.

3.          If a large surface area is helpful to cells, why do cells not grow to be very large?

              Cells need to be little because they rely on diffusion to allow nutrients to get in and waste to get out. If the cells were big it would take a lot of energy to get nutrients in to the entire cell, and waste fully extracted.

4. You have three cubes, A, B, and C. They have surface to volume ratios of 3:1, 5:2, and 4:1 respectively. Which of these cubes is going to be the most effective at maximizing diffusion, how do you know this?

The cube with the ratio of 5:2 will be the most effective because the surface area is much larger than the volume which maximizes diffusion.

5. How does your body adapt surface area-to-volume ratios to help exchange gases?

They adapt to surfaces area to volume ratios by dividing cells constantly  to make them smaller

6. Why can’t certain cells, like bacteria, get to be the size of a small fish?

This is due to the fact that they need to be little in order to have the nutrients be absorbed into each cell and waste taken out of each cell

7.   What are the advantages of large organisms being multicellular?

          Having large organisms be multicellular means that cells are all able to get nutrients in and waste out of the body much quicker than if it were one giant cell. Gas exchange and your circulatory system, speed up and help the movement of beneficial materials into and out of organisms.

This is the Agar right as we put it into the base

This is the agar 5 minutes in the base

This is the agar once we took it out, and cut it in half to see how far the base had penetrated into each cube