ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This is to certify that KUNAL CHUGH has made a

project on study of digestion of starch by salivary
amylase and effect of pH and tempersture on it under
the guidance of Mrs. Rakhi Gakhar.

I thank Mrs. Rakhi Gakhar for the help and guidance

provided to me in completing the project.

I would also like to thank the principal for permitting

the use of the resources of the school for performing
the experiments.

Name of the Student: KUNAL CHUGH

Roll Number: 5634780

.
Teacher’s Signature
 INDEX
1) Introduction
2) Objective 1: To study the digestion of starch by saliva
3) Objective 2: To study the effect of temperature on the
digestion of starch by saliva.
4) Objective 3: To study the effect of pH in salivary
digestion of starch.
5) Bibliography
INTRODUCTION
Every health book insists on chewing of food. The act of chewing stimulates
the excretion of saliva. Saliva mixes up with food and helps it digestion. i.e.
the enzyme ptyalin or amylase present in human saliva hydrolyses the big
molecules of food into many smaller molecules for e.g. starch into
monosaccharide maltose and glucose, proteins into amino acids and fats into
fatty acids and glycerol. Thus saliva not only helps in digestion of food but
converts 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 e.g., hydrolysis of starch can be
verified by testing it with iodine solution. Starch forms blue colored
complex with iodine, if no starch is present is present in the system it will
not give blue color with iodine.

OBJECTIVE 1: To study the digestion of starch by saliva.

APPARATUS:
1. Test Tubes
2. Test tube stand
3. One dropper
4. Beakers
5. Stop watch

CHEMICALS:
1. Starch
2. Iodine solution.

PROCEDURE:
1) Collection of saliva
Rinse your mouth thoroughly with cold water and ensure it does not
contain any food particles. Now take about 20ml of luke warm water
in the mouth and gargle for about three minutes so that saliva mixes
up well with it. Spit this into a beaker. Filter, if there is any suspended
impurity. Clear filtrate is saliva solution and contains enzyme ptyalin.
2) Preparation of Starch solution: Take about 0.5g of starch in a 100ml
beaker and add enough water to make a paste. Dilute the paste by
adding 50ml water and boil for about 5 minutes.
 3) Digestion of starch.
(a) Take 5 ml of the starch solution in a test tube. Add 2 ml of
the saliva solution into it. Mix the solutions well by shaking the tube
carefully and start a stop watch.
(b) After one minute take out two drops of the mixture solution from
one test tube with the help of a dropper and transfer it into another test
containing about one ml of 1% iodine solution. Note the color produced,
if any.
(c) Repeat this test every one minute taking two drops of the mixture
solution and fresh 1% iodine solution. Continue until the test shows no
blue color. Record the time and blue color intensity.
OBSERVATION: Room Temperature =37 Degree Celsius

Time passed 1 min 2 min 3 min ……….. ‘t’ min

after mixing

Color intensity Deep Blue Light ……….. No blue

blue Blue color.

Absence of blue color on addition to iodine solution means absence of starch

in the mixture solution. That is whole of the starch has got digested or
hydrolyzed.

CONCLUSION: Starch gets hydrolyzed by saliva amylase.

OBJECTIVE 2: To study the effect of temperature on the digestion of
starch by saliva.
APPARATUS:
1) Test tubes
2) Test tube stand
3) One dropper
4) Beakers
5) Thermometer
CHEMICALS:
1) Starch
2) 1% iodine solution.
PROCEDURE:
1) Prepare the starch and saliva solutions as described in objective 1.
2) Take three test tubes and label these as 1,2 and 3.
3) Add 5 ml of the starch solution, 2 ml of the saliva solution and 5 ml,
water in each test tube.
4) Mix the solution of each tube, well by shaking it carefully.
5) Place test tube no. 1 in water at room temperature, test tube no. 2 in a
beaker containing water at 50 degree Celsius and test tube no. 3 in
boiling water.
6) After 5 minutes, observe the color change on mixing two drops of the
mixture of every tube with one ml of 1% iodine solution (similar to
objective 1). Note the intensity of blue colored form.

OBSERVATION: Room Temperature=37 degree Celsius.

Time passed after Intensity of blue Intensity of blue Intensity of blue

mixing color in test tube color in test tube color in test tube
no. 1 no. 2 no. 3
5 minutes Light blue Blue Deep Blue
6 minutes No blue color Light Blue Blue
7 minutes No blue color Very light blue Blue
8 minutes No blue color No blue color Blue
9 minutes No blue color No blue color Blue
10 minutes No blue color No blue color Blue
Absence of blue color means absence of starch in the mixture. In other
words, digestion of whole of the starch.
CONCLUSION: Temperature affects the digestion of starch by saliva.
OBJECTIVE 3: To study the effect of pH on the salivary digestion of
starch.
APPARATUS:
1) Test tubes
2) Test tube stand
3) One dropper
4) Beakers
CHEMICALS:
1) Starch
2) 1% iodine solution
3) Diluted HCl
4) Diluted NaOH solution.

PROCEDURE:
1) Prepare the starch and saliva solutions as described in objective 1.
2) Take three clean test tubes and label these 1,2, and 3.
3) Add 5 ml of the starch solution and 2ml of the saliva solution in each
test tube.
4) Now add 2ml of water in test tube no. 1-2 ml of dilute HCl. In test
tube no. 2 and 2 ml of dilute NaOH solution in test tube no. 3 and
shake carefully.
5) Keep the three test tubes in water at room temperature for about 10
minutes.
6) Test two drops of the solution of each test tube with 1% iodine
solution and observe the color change.

OBSERVATION:
ROOM TEMPERATURE= 37 degree Celsius.
Test Tube no. Color produced with 1% iodine
solution
1. (starch + saliva) No blue color
2. (starch + saliva + dilute HCl) Blue color
3. (starch + saliva + dilute NaOH) Blue color
CONCLUSION: pH effects the digestion of starch by saliva. That is
amylase hydrolysis of starch does not take place in the acidic or alkaline
medium.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Oxford Encyclopedia
• Internet Websites
- www.google.com
- www.wikipedia.com
- www.amazon.com

• Chemistry lab manual

• NCERT biology