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Sports, Exercise and Health Science: Digestion of Protein Practice Internal Assessment
Sports, Exercise and Health Science: Digestion of Protein Practice Internal Assessment
Sports, Exercise and Health Science: Digestion of Protein Practice Internal Assessment
Joseph Latif
Results
Pepsin Activity
Test
Tube #
Contents of Tube
pH Level
Water + Hydrochloric
Acid
Pepsin
Pepsin + Sodium
Hydroxide
Pepsin + Water
Pepsin + Hydrochloric
Acid
2
3
4
5
5.5
Relative
Amount of
Coating
4
Relative
Pepsin
Activity
2
7
10
5
2
1
4
7.5
5.5
3
1
3
5
R = 1
4
Relative Amount of Coating
3
2
1
0
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5
Relative Pepsin Activity
Joseph Latif
Joseph Latif
Furthermore, tube 3 contained the highly alkaline chemical, sodium hydroxide
(NaOH), as well as the enzyme pepsin. However, although pepsin was present in the
tube, it is highly unlikely the pepsin was able to have a large impact on the proteins on
the film, given that it resided in an environment with a highly alkaline pH of 11
which is very far from pepsins optimal range. If this is true, NaOH must have been
responsible for the breaking down of proteins on the film. This may be explained
through a process called Alkaline Hydrolysis3, where the peptide bonds in proteins are
broken by water.
Test tube 4, contained pepsin and water, and ranked 3rd in both variables. The reason
that the solution in tube 4 did not succeed tube 3 and 5 in terms of relative pepsin
activity may be explained firstly by the fact that the water diluted the concentration of
the pepsin. Secondly, the pH level of the tube was 7.5, which is relatively far from the
optimal pH range that pepsin operates in.
Interestingly, test tube 2 and 1, which both ranked 1st and 2nd in relative pepsin activity
and 5th and 4th in relative amount of coating respectively, both had no pepsin that acted
upon the proteins on the film. This may suggest that without pepsin, there would be
great difficulty in breaking down proteins, especially in the human body.
Ultimately, these conclusions could be drawn as a result of the investigation being
executed with precision. These conclusions are reliable as the results had been
compared by all groups that took place in this investigation, and all found similar, if
not exactly the same results. Furthermore, a similar experiment named The Effect of
Various Acids on the Digestion of Proteins by Pepsin4 showed that pepsin operated
optimally in the presence of hydrochloric acid. This affirms part of this experiment,
especially the results produced by tube 5.
3 GordonI.Kaye,PH.D,PeterB.Weber,PH.DandWilliamM.Wetzel.TheAlkalineHydrolysis
Process.Articles2004.Web.6July2015.
4 Northrop,J.H."Theeffectofvariousacidsonthedigestionofproteinsbypepsin."TheJournalof
generalphysiology1.61919:pg607612.Web.6July2015
Joseph Latif
Evaluating Procedures/Improving the Investigation:
As a general rule, the reliability of any investigation can be improved through using
more time, more subjects, more trials and more precise equipment. However, in this
investigation, there were specific limitations that could have been amended if some
extra processes were executed.
Given that this experiment was conducted in a school environment, there were many
safety concerns that may have impaired the validity of the results. For example, when
dealing with chemicals such as sodium hydroxide, which is alkaline enough to burn
skin, small concentrations of the chemical were used to prevent this from occurring.
Therefore, this may have limited the validity of the results, as it does not truly
replicate the biological environments where protein digestion takes place.
There were also some prominent weaknesses in the experiment:
Identified Weakness
The inability to keep the
temperature of tube 2 at a
constant boiling temperature
the equipment used in the
investigation did not allow
for a constant temperature
to be kept so that tube 2
could remain boiling.
Significance of Weakness
This was of rather low
significance as the
temperatures were extreme
enough the denature the
pepsin so it could not
function and therefore it did
not matter if the temperature
varied by 10
Suggested Improvement
Precise equipment such as a
laboratory oven could have
been equipped in order to
control the temperature of
the boiling water. The
experiment could possibly
recommend executing the
investigation in a scientific
environment where such
equipment is readily
available