Balanced Chemical Equation for the breakdown of Starch into Maltose

[Parthyyy]

Hey, so we had this question on the pre- sac and i am still confused on our experiment in which we used amalyse for the breakdown of starch.

It had a question to list the balanced chemical equations and illustare the rectants and the products of the chemical equations. Will this be then correct, or have i done something wrong?

(C6 H10 O5)n ----> ( C12 H22 O11)
Starch                         Maltose

Thank you so much 

[PhoenixxFire]

Hey,
for a balanced equation, you need equal numbers of each element (in this case, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen) on each side of the equation. In order to get balanced numbers, you may need to have multiple reactants for each product (or vice versa), or you may have other reactants or other products (commonly water or oxygen). Have a go with this and see if you can work out what numbers you need on each side and if you need any other compounds on either side in order to make the numbers equal.

[Parthyyy]

Hey,
for a balanced equation, you need equal numbers of each element (in this case, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen) on each side of the equation. In order to get balanced numbers, you may need to have multiple reactants for each product (or vice versa), or you may have other reactants or other products (commonly water or oxygen). Have a go with this and see if you can work out what numbers you need on each side and if you need any other compounds on either side in order to make the numbers equal.

Hey i was able to work on it and got this: So this shows that a complex molecule like Starch was broken down into Maltose and Glucose. Is this correct?

C12 H22 O11 = C6 H10 O5 + C6 H12 O6

[Erutepa]

Hey i was able to work on it and got this: So this shows that a complex molecule like Starch was broken down into Maltose and Glucose. Is this correct?

C12 H22 O11 = C6 H10 O5 + C6 H12 O6

Hi Parthyyy!
You have balanced the equation correctly in the sense that there are equal amounts of each atom on each side of the equation, however the equation does not represent the reaction you have described. The chemical formula of maltose is C12 H22 O11 - I belive you might have accidentaly got this confused with C6 H10 O5 (which is not a carbohydrate). As such, if you are trying to show the breakdown of starch into maltose and glucose the produces would be C12H22O11 + C6H12O6. In addition to this, its important to remember that the breakdown of a carbohydrate is a hydrolysis reaction which requires the input of water.

If only 1 glucose and maltose molecule were produced, then the reaction would look like this:
C18H32O16 + H2O = C6H12O6 + C12H22O11
^ this actually shows the breakdown of a trisaccharide (Maltotriose) into glucose and maltose