Enzyme Lab Report

Enzyme Action: Testing Catalase Activity
Introduction
Many organisms can decompose hydrogen peroxide enzymatically. Enzymes are proteins that are responsible for most of the chemical activities of living organisms. Enzymes act as catalysts, or substances that speed up the rate of chemical reactions. Enzyme activity is affected greatly under various conditions, such as different enzyme concentrations, pH values, and temperatures.
Purpose
To determine if differences in enzyme concentration, pH values, and temperature will affect the rate of chemical reactions being carried out by enzymes.
Hypothesis
If the enzyme concentration, temperature, and pH value is increased, then the rate of decomposition of H₂O₂ will increase.
Pre-Lab Questions
1. What …show more content…
The rate of enzyme activity is the highest at a pH of 4. The rate of enzyme activity is lowest at a pH of 10.
7. How does changing the pH affect the rate of enzyme activity? Does this follow a pattern you anticipated?
a. In an environment with a lower pH, the rate of enzyme activity is high, while in an environment with a higher pH, the rate of enzyme activity is low. I did not anticipate this outcome. I hypothesized that the higher the pH was, the higher the rate of enzyme activity would be. The results show that the hypothesis was incorrect, and that the rate of enzyme activity is highest when in a lower pH environment.
Extensions
1. Design an experiment to determine the effect of boiling the catalase on the reaction …show more content…
The experiment would be similar to the experiment used in this lab to test the effect of temperature on the enzyme activity. Add 3 mL of 3% H₂O₂ and 3 mL of water into a clean test tube and prepare a water bath with 600 mL of boiling water (100°C). Add the test tube to the boiling water and wait until the test tube’s contents reach 100°C. Remove the test tube from the water bath with a test tube clamp. Then add 2 drops of enzyme solution into the test tube. Put the rubber stopper in the test tube and gently swirl the contents. Attach the free end of the plastic tube to the top of the stopper. Click the “collect” button on Logger Pro to start the data collection and end the collection after 3 minutes. Add a line of linear fit to the graph to determine the slope (kPa/min). This slope shows how boiling the catalase affects the reaction

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