Peroxidase Enzyme Lab Report

Catalysts are substances that increase the rate of chemical reactions without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change. It speeds up the reaction by lowering the activation energy required. An enzyme is a substance produced by a living organism that acts as a catalyst to bring about a specific biochemical reaction. Enzymes carry out the thousands of chemical reactions that occur on cells, or the basic units of structure and function of an organism. Usually, they are polymers of thousands of amino acids. Enzymes are not used up as it carries out the reaction but are recycled over and over. In this experiment, peroxidase from horseradish was the enzyme used to test the rate of reaction. The rate measures the speed at which some action or event occurs and is expressed as a ratio. The …show more content…
Guaiacol, an organic chemical produced by the guaiac tree, is used to follow the progress of the reaction. Guaiacol causes a change in coloring when it comes in contact with oxygen. This color change can be measured quantitatively using a spectrophotometer. The peroxidase enzyme will be used to test the specific null hypothesis and see the environmental effects on enzyme activity. The first null hypothesis is that “the amount of enzyme does not alter the rate of a reaction” and is covered in the first investigation. A reasoning for this hypothesis may be that the rate of reaction may have to do more with the amount of substrate than the enzyme. The second null hypothesis is that “pH does not influence the rate of an enzyme reaction” and is covered in the second investigation. A possible explanation for this could be that pH does not react to the enzyme; therefore it does not influence the rate of the reaction. The third null hypothesis is that “temperature does not influence the rate of enzyme reaction” and is