Cheese Lab Conclusion

C.E.R

In this lab we asked the question: “What are the optimal conditions and curdling agents for making cheese?” Our claim was: “If the cow’s stomach where rennin is found naturally is hot, then the optimal temperature for curdling cheese is hot as well.” We found that our hypothesis was correct, because after multiple experiments, the coldest temperature didn’t even curdle, the warm temperature somewhat curdled after 10 minutes, but the hot temperature curdled completely in 5 minutes. It is general knowledge that a cow’s stomach is hot, so we were able to assume that the best conditions for curdling cheese were hot temperatures as well. This data supports our claim because the hot bath simulated the cow’s stomach most accurately out of the rest of our variables.

P.E

Our data agrees with the expected results because we were expecting the hot temperature to curdle the milk the fastest. There were possible errors in our measurements because we could have miscalculated the amount of time that each test tube sat in their environments. We checked every 5 minutes, so the exact amount of time each sample took to curdle might have been different. This could result in inaccurate time measurements. Another problem we might have  with our results is the amount of rennin put into each sample. There was a set amount  we were supposed to put in, but there is a small possibility there was an uneven amount of rennin in each sample. We could have been more observant, checking every minute instead of every 5 minutes for curdling. This could have resulted in more accurate results. We could have been more careful when measuring rennin into each sample, and in future experiments we should watch out for measuring things more accurately.

P.A

This lab was done to demonstrate the role that enzymes play in chemical reactions, and to explain denaturing. There was proof that the enzymes assisting in the curdling process were denaturing in the cold temperature, because there were absolutely no curdles. in the hot temperature, the enzymes seemed to work the best and stay "natured", because the milk curdled the fastest. From this lab I learned the importance of enzymes in reactions. This helps me understand the concept of denaturing more. Based on my experience from this lab, I learned why denaturing is not something to be taken lightly, and why denaturing is such a drastic problem in nature.

	Time to Curdle (minutes)
Curdling Agent	Chymosin	Rennin	Buttermilk	Milk(control)
Acid	5	5	5
Base	20
pH control	15	10
Cold
Hot	5	5
temp control	10	10