Enzymes And Currdle Activity

Enzymes function best in a specific range of pH. Their activity is reduced if the pH goes below or over that optimum level. The effect of change in pH on rennet activity was recorded in table 4 and charted in a line graph in figure 4. The trend between the times for the milk to curdle when the pH was manipulated can be observed in figure 4. A positive correlation between the two variables can be seen because as the pH of the milk increase so does the curdling time. Qualitatively speaking as the pH of the milk increased from 5 to 9 the amount of curdles formed decreased and so did their size.

When comparing figure 1, the hypothesized diagram, to figure4, the experimental results, the two graphs considerably resemble each other. Thus the above

It was expected that the change in pH disrupts enzyme’s structure when its side chains containing -COOH and –NH2 gain or lose H+ ions (Anglin, M., September 2, 2014). The deformed active sites are incapable of binding the substrate and facilitating the reaction. Altering the pH of the solution altered the tertiary structure of the enzyme rennet by changing bonds between each side chains on the amino acid. Some amino acid side chains have ionic charges and use ionic bonds in order to create tertiary structures (Clark, J., 2007). Modifying the pH of milk originally at 6.5 to 5, 7, 8 and 9 changed the charges on the ionic side chains. A higher pH results in fewer hydrogen ions and more hydroxide ions. The hydroxide ions bond to the positively charged side chains making them unavailable to bond to the negatively charged side chains. Since

First source of error is observer subjectivity. The observations made on the qualitative results of the experiments are based entirely on observer’s ability to detect and interpret the results. A different observer may detect or interpret the same events differently. To avoid such errors, the observers should be briefed properly and in detail on the possible outcomes of the event so the record can have some uniformity between different observers, e.g., some guidance should be provided to determine what constitutes a small, medium and large piece of curd. Secondly, pH paper was used to determine the pH of the solution. The colors of the pH strip once dipped in the solution corresponded to the pH ranges usually in increments of 1. Thus using the pH paper did not give specific pH of the solution. In order to avoid such error pH meters can be used which provides its user with more accurate and exact pH