CONTENT

Certificate
Acknowledgement
Introduction
Objective
Theory
Procedure
Observation
Conclusion
 Introduction

Every health book insists on the chewing of food.

The act of chewing stimulates the excretion of
saliva. Saliva mixes up with the food and helps its
digestion. That is, the enzyme ptyalin or amylase
present in human saliva hydrolyses the big
molecules of food into many molecules. For
example, starch into mono-saccharides maltose and
glucose; proteins into amino acids and fats into fatty
acids and glycerol. Thus, saliva not only helps in
digestion of food but convert it into energy
generating substances. Further, enzymes and their
activity are very sensitive to temperature and pH.
Even a slight variation in these two factors, can
disrupt the action of enzymes. In other words,
digestion of food by salivary amylase is also
affected by pH and temperature and can be verified
experimentally. For example, hydrolysis of starch
can be verified by testing it with iodine solution.
Starch forms blue colored complex with iodine. If
no starch is present in a system it will not give blue
color with iodine
In the Beginning

The digestion of the food starts as

soon as we put food in our mouth.
Our teeth cut the food into small
pieces and the salivary glands
secrete saliva that mixes with these
food materials. The saliva contains
an enzyme called salivary amylase
which hydrolyses starch into
maltose. The complete digestion of
starch occurs only in the small
intestine by the action of pancreatic.
 EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE
All enzymes are proteinaceous in nature. At
a lower temperature, the enzyme salivary
amylase is deactivated and at the higher
temperature, the enzyme is desaturated.
Therefore, more time will be taken by an
enzyme to digest the starch at lower and
higher temperatures. Optimum temperature
for the enzymatic activity of salivary
amylase ranges from 32 °C to 37 °C. The
optimum temperature means that the
temperature at which the enzyme shows the
maximum activity. At this optimum
temperature, the enzyme is most active and
hence, takes less time to digest the starch
 EFFECT OF PH
The optimum pH for the enzymatic activity
of salivary amylase ranges from 6 to 7.
Above and below this range, the reaction
rate reduces as enzymes get desaturated.
The enzyme salivary amylase is most active
at pH 6.8. Our stomach has high level of
acidity which causes the salivary amylase to
denature and change its shape. So, the
salivary amylase does not function once it
enters the stomach.
Objectives of the Project Report:

The main objective of this chemistry project report is “To

Study the digestion of starch by salivary amylase and effect
of temperature and pH on it” and

 To study digestion of starch by saliva.

 To study the effect of temperature on the digestion of
starch by saliva.
 To study the effect of pH on the salivary digestion of
starch.
 THEORY

Every health book insists on the chewing of

food. The act of chewing stimulates the
excretion of saliva. Saliva mixes up with the
food and helps its digestion. That is, the
enzyme ptyalin or amylases present in
human saliva hydrolyses the big molecules
of food into many molecules. For example,
starch into mono-saccharine maltose and
glucose; proteins into amino acids and fats
into fatty acids and glycerol. Thus, saliva not
only helps in digestion of food but convert it
into energy generating substances. Further,
enzymes and their activity are very sensitive
to temperature and pH. Even a slight
variation in these two factors, can disrupt the
action of enzymes. In other words, digestion
of food by salivary amylase is also affected
by pH and temperature and can be verified
experimentally. For example, hydrolysis of
starch can be verified by testing it with iodine
solution. Starch forms blue colored complex
with iodine. If no starch is present in a system
it will not give blue color with iodine.
The requirements for experiment of PROJECT
REPORT are as under:
 Test tubes
 Test tube stand
 One dropper
 Beaker
 Stop watch
 Starch and Iodine solution
 Thermometer
 Dil. HCl and Dil. NaOH solution
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