Name: Leona Tittle

Date: Wednesday 17th, December 2024

Subject: Biology

Title: The effect of temperature on the activity of enzyme, trypsin.

Problem Statement: Holly and Jolly are CAPE Biology students who have just finished
learning about enzymes in class. For their homework they were asked to match some common
enzymes in the body with their respective optimum temperatures. For example, trypsin is a
proteolytic enzyme. If added to a suspension of powdered milk in water, the appearance of the
suspension will go from opaque white to translucent (powdered milk contains the protein casein.)
Holly believes that the rate of this reaction (cm3 min-1) would be fastest at around 30 ⁰C while
her friend Jolly believes that it would be highest at around 60 ⁰C. Plan and design an experiment
to investigate the effect of temperature on Trypsin’s catalytic activity being sure to identify
Trypsin’s optimum temperature.
Hypothesis: The rate of the trypsin-catalyzed reaction will be fastest at approximately 30 °C.
Aim: To investigate the effect of temperature on the catalytic activity of trypsin and determine its
optimum temperature for the reaction.
Materials/Apparatus: Trypsin solution, Powdered milk solution , thermostatically controlled
water baths (set at various temperatures: e.g., 20 °C, 30 °C, 40 °C, 50 °C, 60 °C, test tubes, test
tube holder, graduated cylinder, Beaker, stopwatch.

Procedure:
1. Gather all materials.
2. Label 5 test tubes A-F and another five with the corresponding temperatures of (20 °C, 30 ° C,
40 °C, 50 °C, 60 °C) marking up to half of the cylinder.
3. Using a measuring cylinder pour 5ml of powder milk solution into the test tubes labelled with
the various temperatures.
4. Measure 5ml of trypsin solution into the test tubes labelled A-F
6. Group tube the tubes labelled A-F with the various temperature and using a test tube holder
place in their respective water baths to attain the temperature of the water bathe for 5 minutes.
7. In a beaker add some tap water and insert the last pair of test tubes into the water.
8. After 5 minutes, take out the test tubes and add the trypsin solution into the test tubes that
contains the milk.
9. Stir the mixture vigorously and immediately start the stopwatch and insert the mixture into the
water bathe.
10. Record the time it takes for the suspension to change from opaque white to translucent.

Variables:
- Manipulated (Independent): Temperature of the water bath (20 °C, 30 °C, 40 °C, 50 °C, 60 °C)
- Responding (Dependent): Time taken for the trypsin-catalyzed reaction to occur (measured in
cm³/min)
- Controlled: Concentration of trypsin solution, amount of powdered milk, water volume,
Expected Results:
Temperature( C) Average Reaction
Time(sec/min)
20
30
40
50
60
TABLE SHOWING EFFECTS OF VARYING TEMPERATURE ON TRYPSIN
CATALYTIC ACTIVITY.

Inferences: If the hypothesis is supported, it implies that trypsin exhibits the highest catalytic
activity at the normal body temperature of 30 °C. If the trypsin exhibits lowest catalytic activity
at 20°C then the hypothesis is not supported.
Source of Errors:
1) Potential temperature fluctuations during the experiment.
Assumptions:
1) The concentration of trypsin solution remains constant throughout the experiment.