Potato Bubbles
Introduction Our driving question for this lab was “How do changes in temperature and pH levels affect enzyme activity?” Throughout the duration of this lab, we explored enzymes and how environmental factors like pH and temperature affected enzyme activity. Enzymes are proteins that speed up chemical reactions. For this particular experiment, we studied the enzyme catalase, which is found in potatoes. Catalase reacts with hydrogen peroxide to break it down into its water and oxygen parts. Due to the fact that oxygen is a product of this chemical reaction, it can be concluded that the more oxygen bubbles there are, the quicker the reaction is occurring, and the enzyme is very active. For this lab, our goal was to show if enzyme activity changes due to alterations in its pH level or temperature caused by using acids, bases, hotplates, or ice.
Method
Over the course of this experiment, we performed 4 controls and 1 baseline. Controls were performed without the potato puree to ensure that all the data from the following trials could only have resulted from the catalase, and that the hydrogen peroxide could not have performed the reaction on its own within the given timeframe. The baseline was performed with the potato to serve as a starting point for the comparison of data. The controlled …show more content…
The five drops of hydrogen peroxide and, when applicable, one millimeter of catalase was added to the tube first. We then executed the transformations listed above as independent variables to alter the pH or the temperature, whether it was using an ice bath or adding a base or acid solution. After two minutes had passed, we took a ruler to measure the height of the bubbles and recorded it. To analyze this new data, we compared the different amounts for each trial to deduce how environmental factors affected enzyme activity. This study is a controlled experiment designed to investigate enzymes and practice interpreting
Introduction Our driving question for this lab was “How do changes in temperature and pH levels affect enzyme activity?” Throughout the duration of this lab, we explored enzymes and how environmental factors like pH and temperature affected enzyme activity. Enzymes are proteins that speed up chemical reactions. For this particular experiment, we studied the enzyme catalase, which is found in potatoes. Catalase reacts with hydrogen peroxide to break it down into its water and oxygen parts. Due to the fact that oxygen is a product of this chemical reaction, it can be concluded that the more oxygen bubbles there are, the quicker the reaction is occurring, and the enzyme is very active. For this lab, our goal was to show if enzyme activity changes due to alterations in its pH level or temperature caused by using acids, bases, hotplates, or ice.
Method
Over the course of this experiment, we performed 4 controls and 1 baseline. Controls were performed without the potato puree to ensure that all the data from the following trials could only have resulted from the catalase, and that the hydrogen peroxide could not have performed the reaction on its own within the given timeframe. The baseline was performed with the potato to serve as a starting point for the comparison of data. The controlled …show more content…
The five drops of hydrogen peroxide and, when applicable, one millimeter of catalase was added to the tube first. We then executed the transformations listed above as independent variables to alter the pH or the temperature, whether it was using an ice bath or adding a base or acid solution. After two minutes had passed, we took a ruler to measure the height of the bubbles and recorded it. To analyze this new data, we compared the different amounts for each trial to deduce how environmental factors affected enzyme activity. This study is a controlled experiment designed to investigate enzymes and practice interpreting