Weakness Explanation Suggestion(s) for improvement
Not measuring the temperature of the liver cubes that are the sources of the enzyme catalase. Although the hydrogen peroxide solutions were at the desired temperatures, it was uncertain whether their paired liver cubes had the same temperatures. This places concern on whether the froth height was close to being accurate, hence reliable.
If the temperature of a liver were lower than the desired temperature, the enzymes would be less likely to collide to their substrates because according to Sam Adam-Day 2014, enzymes and substrate collide more as temperature increases. The reaction rate, thus, may be slower and the froth height would be less accurate. If the temperature of a liver were higher …show more content…
It was possible the eyes were not levelled with the meniscus of the hydrogen peroxide solution in the measuring cylinder, thus the volume of hydrogen peroxide could have been below or above the 5mL mark due to parallax. This would affect substrate concentration if volumes in test tubes were inconsistent, thus some test tubes might have less or more than 5mL of hydrogen peroxide, reducing precision. If a test tube contained more than 5mL, the substrate concentration would be higher, thus may increase reaction rate (Sam Adam-Day, 2014), and vice versa. Increase sample …show more content…
The higher amount of hydrogen substrate would increase substrate concentration to cause reaction rate to be faster, and slower for lower amount (Sam Adam-Day, 2014). If such error occurred, the reaction rate of hydrogen peroxide would either be consistently faster or slower than expected. If the stopwatch were incorrectly calibrated, the one second on the stopwatch could be less, or more than one second in reality. Therefore the duration of the reactions may consistently be less or more than 20 seconds. If the experiment was to be repeated, an improvement for systematic errors is to repeat the experiment several times to increase sample
Not measuring the temperature of the liver cubes that are the sources of the enzyme catalase. Although the hydrogen peroxide solutions were at the desired temperatures, it was uncertain whether their paired liver cubes had the same temperatures. This places concern on whether the froth height was close to being accurate, hence reliable.
If the temperature of a liver were lower than the desired temperature, the enzymes would be less likely to collide to their substrates because according to Sam Adam-Day 2014, enzymes and substrate collide more as temperature increases. The reaction rate, thus, may be slower and the froth height would be less accurate. If the temperature of a liver were higher …show more content…
It was possible the eyes were not levelled with the meniscus of the hydrogen peroxide solution in the measuring cylinder, thus the volume of hydrogen peroxide could have been below or above the 5mL mark due to parallax. This would affect substrate concentration if volumes in test tubes were inconsistent, thus some test tubes might have less or more than 5mL of hydrogen peroxide, reducing precision. If a test tube contained more than 5mL, the substrate concentration would be higher, thus may increase reaction rate (Sam Adam-Day, 2014), and vice versa. Increase sample …show more content…
The higher amount of hydrogen substrate would increase substrate concentration to cause reaction rate to be faster, and slower for lower amount (Sam Adam-Day, 2014). If such error occurred, the reaction rate of hydrogen peroxide would either be consistently faster or slower than expected. If the stopwatch were incorrectly calibrated, the one second on the stopwatch could be less, or more than one second in reality. Therefore the duration of the reactions may consistently be less or more than 20 seconds. If the experiment was to be repeated, an improvement for systematic errors is to repeat the experiment several times to increase sample