The Fragility of an Enzyme

Title: The Fragility of an Enzyme

Name: Claire Beaty

Date: 10/12/18

Purpose: The purpose of this experiment is to test the fragility of an Enzyme.

Background: Ever wondered how strong the Enzyme really is? “Now it turns out that enzymes, because they are so complex and because their function is shape-dependent, are quite fragile.” Enzymes are easy to destroy, as we will find in our experiment.

Hypothesis: If bromelain is present in the Jell-O, then the Jell-O will not set.

Experimental Procedure:

I. Materials: FRESH pineapple (CANNOT be canned), Three small bowls, Box of Jell-O, Two tablespoons, Stove, Refrigerator, Pot, Cheese grater

II. Safety Precautions: Be careful with both your cheese grater and also when you boil the water

III. Variables: Identify the variables in the experiment.

≤ Independent: Fresh Pineapple

≤ Dependent: Jell-O with fresh pineapple

≤ Control: Jell-O without pineapple

IV. Procedure:

Step one of this experiment is cutting the pineapple, make sure you remove all skin for it. After you have cut your pineapple, you will prepare your Jell-O as instructed on your box. While you boil the water for your Jell-O, take a tablespoon of your pineapple and pour it into one of your small bowls. Pour the rest of your pineapple into your pot, soon we will heat it, but DO NOT do it now. At the point on your box where you refrigerate, pour 1/3 of the Jell-O into each of the bowls. Before sticking the Jell-O with the pineapple in, you should stir it properly. Now, we can take the pot of pineapple and heat it on high for five minutes. While heating the pineapple, you need to stir it constantly in order to evenly heat the pineapple. Now take a tablespoon of this pineapple and add it to the Jell-O (Make sure you use a different tablespoon from before or wash you old one). Wait for the amount of time described on the Jell-O box.

Results: After being in the fridge for a few hours, the Jell-Os are ready. As we expected the Jell-O without any thing set perfectly as it should. The Jell-O with fresh pineapple is