To investigate the effect of hydrogen peroxide concentration on enzyme catalase
Indroduction:
Enzymes are proteins. They function as biological catalysts. They lower the energy barrier of a reaction so that the reaction can take place at body temperature. Also, they can speed up Metabolic reactions without being changed or used up. During a reaction, an enzyme molecule combines temporarily with the substrate. When the reaction is complete, the enzyme molecules returns to its original dorm and the product is released. So enzymes are never wasted and always recycled. Due to enzymes are proteins. Most of them are denatured at high temperatures and extreme values of pH .Moreover, enzymes are specific in action. Each enzyme catalyses only one type of reaction.
From basic knowledge, the rate of reaction will affect by the concentration of the reactant. The higher concentration of reactant, the faster the rate of the reaction. In this experiment, hydrogen peroxide acts as substrate and the catalase in potato tissue is the enzyme. The equation od the reaction is: Catalase
Hydrogen peroxide ----------------------------------- > oxygen + water
In the set-up, pipette is used because it can easy to observe the movement of the water due to the small diameter of pipette. By measuring the distance of the water move in the pipette and the time of the experiment, we can find out the reaction rate. By repeating the above measurement, we can find out the reaction rate under different concentration of hydrogen peroxide. As to compare the effect of hydrogen peroxide concentration on catalase.
In this experiment, the independent variable is the concentration of hydrogen peroxide. The dependent variable is the volume of oxygen which is released by hydrogen peroxide showing the rate of the reaction. The volume of oxygen can be measured by taking the initial and final reading of water in the pipette. The controlled variable are the size of