FrederikkeIsabella Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 (edited) I am a pre-IB student, and I am currently in the process of writing a biology lab report. However, I am finding the hypothesis really hard to write. I never did a biology report in my previous studies (i just started pre-IB, 5 months after the other students since I spend a semester abroad). I just put this topic under Biology SL/HL since I figured you were the ones who knew the most about it. The topic is enzyme activity (specifically amylase), and so far, I have written following for my hypothesis: "The experiment will show whether or not the enzyme amylase is present in the enzyme solution. If amylase is present, the iodine will react with the starch."I am fully aware that this hypothesis is not as strong as it should be, so if you have any kind of advice or inputs, I would be more than happy to hear them! Thank you Edited February 21, 2014 by FrederikkeBuus Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sameera95 Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 what is your research question for your IA? What exactly are you looking at in terms of enzyme activity: is it temperature, pH, concentration etc.? And what are your dependent & independent variables? Tell us and we can help you Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrederikkeIsabella Posted February 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 what is your research question for your IA? What exactly are you looking at in terms of enzyme activity: is it temperature, pH, concentration etc.? And what are your dependent & independent variables? Tell us and we can help you It is not an internal assessment, it is just a small report we had to do after doing a lab in biology, so I don't have a research question or a dependent and independent variable. In fact, I am not sure what those last two things are, lol. The aim of the lab, however, was to find out whether or not the enzyme amylase was present in our saliva. These are some of the questions my biology teacher submitted for us. I hope that helps a little: Answer 6 and 7 in the discussion) 1. What were the results of the experiment? Explain thoroughly. 2. Describe and explain the change in the rate of reaction when the temperature changes and combine this knowledge with the experiment. I have tried to make the hypothesis a little more detailed, but I am not sure if it is better. "The experiment will show whether or not the enzyme amylase is present in the enzyme solution. If amylase is present and the starch has been digested, the starch will remain yellow/brown. If not, it will turn dark blue. " Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sameera95 Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 what is your research question for your IA? What exactly are you looking at in terms of enzyme activity: is it temperature, pH, concentration etc.? And what are your dependent & independent variables? Tell us and we can help you It is not an internal assessment, it is just a small report we had to do after doing a lab in biology, so I don't have a research question or a dependent and independent variable. In fact, I am not sure what those last two things are, lol. The aim of the lab, however, was to find out whether or not the enzyme amylase was present in our saliva. These are some of the questions my biology teacher submitted for us. I hope that helps a little: Answer 6 and 7 in the discussion) 1. What were the results of the experiment? Explain thoroughly. 2. Describe and explain the change in the rate of reaction when the temperature changes and combine this knowledge with the experiment. I have tried to make the hypothesis a little more detailed, but I am not sure if it is better. "The experiment will show whether or not the enzyme amylase is present in the enzyme solution. If amylase is present and the starch has been digested, the starch will remain yellow/brown. If not, it will turn dark blue. " an independent variable is a factor which you change in the experiment to see its effect on the dependent variable. e.g. increasing light intensity (independent) on the rate of photosynthesis (dependent, measured by volume of oxygen given off) 2. Describe and explain the change in the rate of reaction when the temperature changes and combine this knowledge with the experiment. your independent variable is temperature (the one you're changing) and your dependent is the rate of reaction (how long it takes for the reaction to occur) You would add on to your hypothesis that is expected that an increase in temperature would increase the rate of reaction (because more particles would have sufficient kinetic energy for successful collisions to occur). However you need to remember that enzymes have an optimum temperature of 37 degrees and after that they begin to denature and so the rate of reaction won't increase. Hope this helps! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrederikkeIsabella Posted February 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 what is your research question for your IA? What exactly are you looking at in terms of enzyme activity: is it temperature, pH, concentration etc.? And what are your dependent & independent variables? Tell us and we can help you It is not an internal assessment, it is just a small report we had to do after doing a lab in biology, so I don't have a research question or a dependent and independent variable. In fact, I am not sure what those last two things are, lol. The aim of the lab, however, was to find out whether or not the enzyme amylase was present in our saliva. These are some of the questions my biology teacher submitted for us. I hope that helps a little: Answer 6 and 7 in the discussion) 1. What were the results of the experiment? Explain thoroughly. 2. Describe and explain the change in the rate of reaction when the temperature changes and combine this knowledge with the experiment. I have tried to make the hypothesis a little more detailed, but I am not sure if it is better. "The experiment will show whether or not the enzyme amylase is present in the enzyme solution. If amylase is present and the starch has been digested, the starch will remain yellow/brown. If not, it will turn dark blue. " an independent variable is a factor which you change in the experiment to see its effect on the dependent variable. e.g. increasing light intensity (independent) on the rate of photosynthesis (dependent, measured by volume of oxygen given off) 2. Describe and explain the change in the rate of reaction when the temperature changes and combine this knowledge with the experiment. your independent variable is temperature (the one you're changing) and your dependent is the rate of reaction (how long it takes for the reaction to occur) You would add on to your hypothesis that is expected that an increase in temperature would increase the rate of reaction (because more particles would have sufficient kinetic energy for successful collisions to occur). However you need to remember that enzymes have an optimum temperature of 37 degrees and after that they begin to denature and so the rate of reaction won't increase. Hope this helps! Thank you!! Where in my report would you suggest I write the dependent and independent variable? I assume it is not in my hypothesis? God bless you Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sameera95 Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 what is your research question for your IA? What exactly are you looking at in terms of enzyme activity: is it temperature, pH, concentration etc.? And what are your dependent & independent variables? Tell us and we can help you It is not an internal assessment, it is just a small report we had to do after doing a lab in biology, so I don't have a research question or a dependent and independent variable. In fact, I am not sure what those last two things are, lol. The aim of the lab, however, was to find out whether or not the enzyme amylase was present in our saliva. These are some of the questions my biology teacher submitted for us. I hope that helps a little: Answer 6 and 7 in the discussion) 1. What were the results of the experiment? Explain thoroughly. 2. Describe and explain the change in the rate of reaction when the temperature changes and combine this knowledge with the experiment. I have tried to make the hypothesis a little more detailed, but I am not sure if it is better. "The experiment will show whether or not the enzyme amylase is present in the enzyme solution. If amylase is present and the starch has been digested, the starch will remain yellow/brown. If not, it will turn dark blue. " an independent variable is a factor which you change in the experiment to see its effect on the dependent variable. e.g. increasing light intensity (independent) on the rate of photosynthesis (dependent, measured by volume of oxygen given off) 2. Describe and explain the change in the rate of reaction when the temperature changes and combine this knowledge with the experiment. your independent variable is temperature (the one you're changing) and your dependent is the rate of reaction (how long it takes for the reaction to occur) You would add on to your hypothesis that is expected that an increase in temperature would increase the rate of reaction (because more particles would have sufficient kinetic energy for successful collisions to occur). However you need to remember that enzymes have an optimum temperature of 37 degrees and after that they begin to denature and so the rate of reaction won't increase. Hope this helps! Thank you!! Where in my report would you suggest I write the dependent and independent variable? I assume it is not in my hypothesis? God bless you You would state that in your hypothesis but you will also have a list of variables after your introduction: Independent: temperature (state the 5 different temps you will be using eg 15,20,25,30,35) Dependent: rate of reaction (how you would measure it eg time how long it takes for the starch to turn blue? not sure about this one, you might need to speak to your teacher) Controlled: list everything you will control, eg volume, concentration etc. (for bio IAs, if you continue to do it at IB, you need at least 5 controlled variables. our teachers also tell us to make a table stating the controlled variable, why it needs to be controlled, and how you will control it. I doubt you need to do this now though) Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandwich Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 The hypothesis is basically just a prediction of the general trend or pattern you think your results will show - what you have at the moment is a description of the aim of your experiment. Judging by what your teacher sent you, you're looking at the behaviour of amylase under different temperature conditions, not just testing purely to see if it exists! The colour change with the iodine is just a way of getting results, it's not something you need to put in your hypothesis. You also have to assume that what you're using is indeed amylase for the experiment to be valid - I mean, this experiment would actually be an unacceptable way of specifically trying to detect amylase. I mean it could be an acid or really anything that's causing this change in the starch! There's nothing about this experiment that specifically proves it's amylase which is altering the starch, so to conclude "amylase was present in the saliva" isn't right (although admittedly nothing else would show the same pattern of results). You already know it's amylase in the saliva, so treat that as assumed knowledge and proceed from there. "I hypothesise that the rate of reaction between the amylase and the starch will increase/decrease/be unaffected by the change in temperature" would be a decent hypothesis - it's saying what you predict is going to happen to your variables and what their relationship is going to be. Then you can test it with the experiment. It's then also customary to give some background information. So why do you think the reaction will become faster or slower as temperature goes up or down - what's the underlying scientific explanation for the process that you're testing? In this case, you should (in the case of amylase) find an optimum temperature type pattern where the rate of reaction is highest at an 'ideal' (unsurprisingly body!) temperature and lower on either side, disappearing into non-existant as the enzyme is denatured. So you can explain this underlying process in your background. Think of the background as justifying your hypothesis. I think that the rate of reaction will BLAH because.... [background of how you know enzymes work!]. When you analyse your data you can then explain exactly what pattern you DID find, what the optimum temperature was and so on. The dependent and independent variables must form part of your hypothesis as they're the things you're testing and fundamentally, a hypothesis is all about the things you're testing If you didn't mention temperature, amylase and rate of reaction, you wouldn't have a hypothesis. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.