Question

Assume you have said to a group of your peers that amylase is capable of starch hydrolysis to maltose. If you had not done control tube 1A, what objection to your statement could be raised?

Answer 1

Without a negative control (control tube 1A), you cannot conclusively attribute the hydrolysis of starch to maltose as being due to amylase; other factors could have influenced this result.

Step-by-step explanation:

If control tube 1A, which presumably contained no enzyme or a deactivated enzyme, was not done, an objection that could be raised is the absence of a negative control. This means that there would be no basis for confirming that the hydrolysis of starch to maltose was specifically due to the action of amylase. Without this control, it would be uncertain if the starch could have been converted to maltose due to other factors, such as contamination with other enzymes or spontaneous hydrolysis under the experimental conditions.