yousef55 Posted August 2, 2017 Report Share Posted August 2, 2017 Hope you guys are doing well. I am doing my extended essay in chemistry and this is my idea: my idea is about the rate of hydrolysis of starch by salivary amylase and how temperature and pH affect it. I will obviously try to focus as much as I can on the chemistry aspect of this phenomenon, such as the chemical bonds between glucose molecules that form starch, how is it formed and how does amylase break it (condensation and hydrolysis reactions). I will also discuss amylase as a catalyst rather than an enzyme and discuss in depth about the chemicals on its active site that result in breaking the glycosidic bond. Finally, I will design an experiment where I will see how pH and temperature affect the rate of hydrolysis and find the optimal environment in our mouth where carbohydrates will be digested the fastest. What worries me is that the topic itself sounds more like biology rather than chemistry, and I am afraid that even if I discuss only the chemical part, I will not score well due to the bio part. What do you guys suggest? Thank you in advance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kw0573 Posted August 2, 2017 Report Share Posted August 2, 2017 5 hours ago, yousef55 said: The chemistry you should consider discuss in detail are rate laws and organic chemistry. In the HL additional topics there are integrated rate laws and how rate laws inform of the mechanism. This is a great segue to why the reactions happen not just that they do (discuss in terms of electrondonating and electronwithdrawing groups) Any relationship you find you should find theory to justify it. Forget about the saliva part as no human experimentation is allowed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
yousef55 Posted August 2, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2017 Thank you for responding and I really appreciate your help. Since saliva experimentation is prohibited, do you have any experimental suggestions so I could still perform an experiment (on the same topic)? as I have heard that theoretical extended essays do not score well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kw0573 Posted August 2, 2017 Report Share Posted August 2, 2017 it seems that there were many parts to your EE and the part before the silava was good and should be sufficient. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
12345e Posted March 31, 2018 Report Share Posted March 31, 2018 Are you sure that saliva experiments is prohibited? Because I am currently using saliva for my experiment and I have seen a few other essays that also use it. I asked my supervisor who checked with a few other people and said that it was fine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kw0573 Posted April 2, 2018 Report Share Posted April 2, 2018 @12345e I would trust your teacher's word over mine. In general in vitro experiments are ok. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts