Question

The following equipment is prepared in order to perform the digestion of potato by the pancreatic juice. test tubes water pancreatic juice water bath at 37°C small pieces of boiled potatoes.

a- Conceive, using the equipment provided, the setup that would allow this digestion.
b- Identify the control tube in the setup.
c- What results can be obtained if the setup is appropriate? Justify the answer.​

Answer 1

To digest potato with pancreatic juice, place boiled potato pieces in a test tube with pancreatic juice and another with water in a 37°C water bath. The tube with juice will show starch breakdown, while the control without juice will show little change.

Step-by-step explanation:

Setting Up the Digestion of Potato by Pancreatic Juice

To perform the digestion of potato using pancreatic juice, set up a water bath at 37°C with test tubes. One test tube should contain boiled potato pieces and pancreatic juice; this serves as the experimental tube. Another tube should contain boiled potato pieces and water, without the pancreatic juice, serving as the control tube. This control tube will provide a comparison to show the effect of the pancreatic juice on the digestion process.

Expected Results

If the set-up is correct, the potato in the experimental test tube with pancreatic juice will undergo chemical digestion as the pancreatic amylase breaks down starch into maltose and other smaller carbohydrates. This is because the pancreatic amylase is optimized for activity at body temperature (37°C) and in the presence of chloride ions, which are common in pancreatic juice. The control tube will show little to no change, as it lacks pancreatic amylase.