TITLE: Enzyme activity

OBSERVATION: A student was peeling green banana and it turned brown. Her mother told her
to rub lime juice on the peeled banana and this will not happen.

HYPOTHESIS: acidic substances do affect the rate of enzymatic browning reaction on peeled
bananas because it mas enzyme inactive.

AIM: To determine the effects of acidic substances on enzyme activity that prevents browning

VARIABLES:

MANIPUATED VARIABLES

 Inaccurate measurement of the acidic substances (lime juice, pineapple juice, vinegar)

RESPONDING VARIABLES

 The time the bananas took to brown

CONSTANT VARIABLES

 The size bananas are cut

 The same amount of solution used
 A constant temperature

LIMITATIONS:

 Time may have elapsed when cutting and placing bananas in respective dishes and
browning may had begun
 The rate at which the oxygen reacts with the enzymes in the banana may vary in
different bananas

PRECAUTIONS:

 Handle solutions carefully

MATERIALS/APPARATHUS: 5 petri dishes, lime juice, vinegar, pineapple juice, graduated

pipette, 2 peeled green bananas, ruler, scalpel, stopwatch.
PROCEDURE:

1. Peel 2 the green bananas

2. Using a scalpel, cut 2 slices of banana 1cm thick and place it into a petri dish
3. Set aside the petri dish in open air and use the stopwatch to observe how long
enzymatic browning takes to occur
4. Observe any changes and record
5. Using a scalpel cut the bananas each 1cm thick and place 2 slices into each petri dish.
Label the petri dishes ( B, C, D) respectively
6. Using a graduated pipette…add 10ml of lime juice to petri dish B, add 10 ml of vinegar
to petri dish C, add 10ml of pineapple juice to petri dish D
7. Allow the bananas to sit in open air for the time taken for enzymatic browning in petri
dish A
8. Observe the bananas and then record the results
EXPECTED RESULTS:

conditions Estimated time Expected observations

5mins
10mins
Bananas with lime juice 15mins No browning
20mins
25mins
30mins
5mins
10mins
Bananas with vinegar 15mins No browning
20mins
25mins
30mins

conditions Estimated time Expected observations

5mins
10mins
Bananas with pineapple juice 15mins No browning
20mins
25mins
30mins
5mins No visible change
10mins Slightly light brown
Bananas left in open air 15mins No visible change
20mins Light brown
25mins Slightly more brown
30mins brown
TREATMENT OF RESULTS:

The bananas that were left in open air without acidic solutions added to it would be affected by
browning. This would be an indication of enzyme activity. Enzymes are biological catalysts
which alter the rate of a chemical reaction. Oxygen in the air would have been able to react
with the enzymes (polyphenol) that was in the banana. The enzyme catalyzes the oxidation of
diphenols to quinones and further reaction leads to melanin which gives brown pigments.
However the bananas that were covered in the acidic solution would have not been affected by
browning. When the acidic substances were added to the banana it would have denatured the
enzymes in the banana which would have contributed to browning.