Starch Lab Write Up
Starch is a type of Carbohydrate that’s made from thousands of glucose units. Simple sugars are the basic units that make up starch. Carbohydrates provide us with energy so that we can carry out our daily routines. Our body then digests it into glucose so we can have energy to do that. Saliva is a form of chemical digestion that is in the mouth. Amylase is an enzyme that catalysts the breakdown of starch into sugars. Amylase is present in human saliva, where it begins the chemical process of digestion. Digestion prepares food for use by cells. It breaks down large complex food molecules and turns it into small, soluble food molecules. There are two types of digestion. Mechanical Digestion, which is the process of physically breaking down big chunks of food to smaller chunks, and Chemical Digestion, which structurally changes food molecules using enzymes. If the starch turns into sugar molecules when it encounters digestive enzymes, then the starch will turn into a sugar molecule because saliva contains chemical digestive enzymes. Test Tube A contained Starch and Saliva. After 5 minutes with the iodine test tube A turned black because it reacted to the starch. After 7 minutes it was grey, showing that the saliva had more time to breakdown the starch. After 9 minutes test tube A was still grey showing that the saliva was still being broken down from starch. I noticed that during the test the test tube was never yellow. It was never yellow because there was always saliva breaking down the starch. When test tube A came into contact with the Benedict's solution before heating it was neon blue color. When test tube A came into contact with the Benedict's solution after it was heated it was a greenish shade. By the test tube being greenish it shows that there was glucose present in the test tube. Test Tube B contained water and starch. After 5 minutes the iodine test tube B turned grey showing that there was starch present in the tube. After 7 minutes it was