Introduction/Hypothesis
Enzymes are catalysts used to speed up reactions and reduce activation energy. These enzymes are important to many bodily functions. Catalase is one of the enzymes essential to cellular health within the body. It is responsible for the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide which, if it builds up, is extremely toxic to cells. One question that scientists have asked and a question that we explore in this lab is what are the optimal conditions for this reaction to occur? This lab was designed to test for the most ideal pH and temperature in which catalase could work most efficiently on a substrate. The enzyme for this lab was a catalase located in cow liver and the substrate was hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). We predicted that catalase …show more content…
The enzyme testing had seven trials and the temperature testing had six trials. For both, equal amounts of liver and hydrogen peroxide were measured out for each trial. Buffers were placed in the hydrogen peroxide in order to alter pH levels for each trial. The buffers we used were buffer four, buffer six, buffer eight, and buffer ten. We mixed the buffers to achieve intermediate pH levels such as pH 3, pH 5, and pH …show more content…
Two milliliters of cow liver was measured out and kept in a separate graduated cylinder. For each hydrogen peroxide tube, four drops of buffer were added depending on what pH were trying to get. We poured the hydrogen peroxide onto the cow liver and set a stopwatch to measure the reaction time. The stopwatch was started when the hydrogen peroxide was poured and stopped when the solution stopped bubbling - an indicator that the reaction had ended. This process was repeated for each trial.
Temperature Testing
Two milliliters of hydrogen peroxide was placed in one beaker and two milliliters of cow liver was placed into another beaker. To lower the temperature, we added ice to the hydrogen peroxide. To raise the temperature, we added boiling water to the hydrogen peroxide. We then measured the temperature again before pouring the hydrogen peroxide onto the liver. We again looked for the fastest reaction time.
Data
Table 1 pH *Ranked from fastest reaction time to slowest reaction time
Temperature (Celsius)
*Ranked from fastest reaction time to slowest reaction time
5
30℃
6
17℃
8
10℃
10
Enzymes are catalysts used to speed up reactions and reduce activation energy. These enzymes are important to many bodily functions. Catalase is one of the enzymes essential to cellular health within the body. It is responsible for the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide which, if it builds up, is extremely toxic to cells. One question that scientists have asked and a question that we explore in this lab is what are the optimal conditions for this reaction to occur? This lab was designed to test for the most ideal pH and temperature in which catalase could work most efficiently on a substrate. The enzyme for this lab was a catalase located in cow liver and the substrate was hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). We predicted that catalase …show more content…
The enzyme testing had seven trials and the temperature testing had six trials. For both, equal amounts of liver and hydrogen peroxide were measured out for each trial. Buffers were placed in the hydrogen peroxide in order to alter pH levels for each trial. The buffers we used were buffer four, buffer six, buffer eight, and buffer ten. We mixed the buffers to achieve intermediate pH levels such as pH 3, pH 5, and pH …show more content…
Two milliliters of cow liver was measured out and kept in a separate graduated cylinder. For each hydrogen peroxide tube, four drops of buffer were added depending on what pH were trying to get. We poured the hydrogen peroxide onto the cow liver and set a stopwatch to measure the reaction time. The stopwatch was started when the hydrogen peroxide was poured and stopped when the solution stopped bubbling - an indicator that the reaction had ended. This process was repeated for each trial.
Temperature Testing
Two milliliters of hydrogen peroxide was placed in one beaker and two milliliters of cow liver was placed into another beaker. To lower the temperature, we added ice to the hydrogen peroxide. To raise the temperature, we added boiling water to the hydrogen peroxide. We then measured the temperature again before pouring the hydrogen peroxide onto the liver. We again looked for the fastest reaction time.
Data
Table 1 pH *Ranked from fastest reaction time to slowest reaction time
Temperature (Celsius)
*Ranked from fastest reaction time to slowest reaction time
5
30℃
6
17℃
8
10℃
10