Part E - Design an Experiment Lactaid is a product designed to help people who c

Question

Part E - Design an Experiment Lactaid is a product designed to help people who cannot digest milk sugar (lactose) because they are missing the enzyme lactase. Many people are lactose-intolerant, a condition that is mainly genetic. Lactase breaks down lactose into two subunits: glucose and galactose. To test for the presence of monosaccharides and reducing disaccharide sugars in food, the food sample is dissolved in water, and a small amount of Benedict's reagent is added. The solution should progress in the colors of blue (with no glucose present), green, yellow, orange, red, and then brick red when there is a large amount of glucose present. (Google benedict's test to see the way this looks.) Lactaid Original 20 CAPLETS Design an experiment where you would determine how quicly lactaid works to break down milk sugar at different temperatures.. Be specific in your description, use drawings if necessary

Explanation / Answer

In order to determine how quickly lactaid (lacatase enzyme) works breaking down lactose at different temperatutes we will design a possible experiment (there is not only one).

We would need first to test how Benedicts regeant works with a certain amount og lactose only. Let´s say 100mg. Since lactose is a reductor sugar, we would expect the result to be something near inbetween the colors blue (no sugar) and red (full glucose). So, lets imagine we find it to be yellow. This is the base color for our experiment, the one we are going to compare. Once we add the lactase enzyme, we expect it to turn to a full red brick color once the reaction finishes breaking down all the lactose.

So, we have the same amount of product, same amount of enzyme. Only variable will be temperature and time. Lets say we use 6 different temperatures, from 20°C to 60°C and wait for it to turn completely red and count the time taken to arrive there.

Example:

Test tubes     Temperature    Time taken to turn red (average)

1                       20°C              7 minutes

2                       30°C              2 minutes

3                       40°C              38 seconds

4                       50°C               34 seconds

5                       60°C              8 minutes             

(remember enzymes have an optimal temperature and denaturalize at high ones!)

Hope this helps, good luck!

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