Catalase Essay

In conducting the practical, the results have shown inconsistencies within the data. This is evidently shown in figure 2, where the reaction rate at 2°C was 88 mL/min, whereas the reaction rate at 32°C was 83.5 mL/min. The reaction rate was lower at 32°C compared to 2°C which is biologically incorrect. As the optimum temperature of an enzyme is 37°C, the closest temperature recorded to that temperature was 32°C. At this temperature, the reaction rate decreased instead of gradually increasing. This shows that the catalase performed best at the temperature of 55°C instead of the optimum temperature of an enzyme, 37°C. The reaction rate of the catalase at 55°C was 91.25 mL/min compared to 32°C which had a reaction rate of 83.5 mL/min. The rate of reaction was slowed at 32°C and was higher at 55°C which contradicts biological concepts, as the reaction rate is meant to decrease above its optimum temperature. This concludes that the results do not support biological reasoning, because at higher …show more content…
As the method states that only two drops of detergent must be added to the peroxide, if the amount of detergent is not consistent, then the results may not be accurate as more foam can be produced because of the additional amount of detergent. For future investigations, instead of using the teat pipettes, the amount of detergent could be measured in a measuring cylinder to ensure that the amount of detergent added remains consistent. Increasing the sample size will increase precision, minimising the impact of random errors. Moreover, an average of the data could potentially reduce the effect of random errors on the data. The graph can be used to detect random errors through the amount of scattering in the results. Improvements could occur, with numerous trials, therefore, conducting an average of trials to minimise the effect of inaccurate measurements on the