I. Introduction
Catalysts are stimulus that speed up the rate of a reaction by lowering the activation energy of the reaction. Chemists discovered catalysts when they were trying to determine how to turn one substance into another. Although early chemists did not resolve how to turn substances into one another, they did discover that various materials could be changed from one form to another. This also led to the discovery that if certain chemicals were present in the reaction, the change would occur faster without consuming itself in the reaction. It is important to acknowledge that a reaction cannot be catalyzed that wouldn’t already occur in the absence of a catalyst. The reaction being catalyzed occurs naturally and does not depend on …show more content…
Along with our initial observations, we calculated the change in absorbance for each tube, which can be seen in Graph 1. Calculating the change in absorbance better allows us to compare each tube to better understand which cofactor is needed in this enzymatic reaction. When referring to the data collected in our experiment, the main trend seen is that of either a positive or negative change in absorbance depending on the cofactor being tested in that tube. The change in absorbance was calculated by Tube 1 which contained the chelating agent EDTA, had the highest change in absorbance, which was also positive. Both Tube 2 and Tube 3 had lower and negative changes in absorbance. We can also see a trend of absorbance, or formation of product through the color change as time progressed. Tubes with positive and higher changes in absorbance like Tube 1 and Tube 4 (Control tube) changed to more prominent colors like orange. Tubes with negative changes of absorbance like Tube 2 and Tube 3 experienced little color change and produced very light colors, for example, a clear-yellow. The intensity of the colors produced throughout the experiment in each tube reflect the amount of reaction happening. The more prominent or intense the color change is, the larger the absorbance of green light, therefore generating a greater formation of
Catalysts are stimulus that speed up the rate of a reaction by lowering the activation energy of the reaction. Chemists discovered catalysts when they were trying to determine how to turn one substance into another. Although early chemists did not resolve how to turn substances into one another, they did discover that various materials could be changed from one form to another. This also led to the discovery that if certain chemicals were present in the reaction, the change would occur faster without consuming itself in the reaction. It is important to acknowledge that a reaction cannot be catalyzed that wouldn’t already occur in the absence of a catalyst. The reaction being catalyzed occurs naturally and does not depend on …show more content…
Along with our initial observations, we calculated the change in absorbance for each tube, which can be seen in Graph 1. Calculating the change in absorbance better allows us to compare each tube to better understand which cofactor is needed in this enzymatic reaction. When referring to the data collected in our experiment, the main trend seen is that of either a positive or negative change in absorbance depending on the cofactor being tested in that tube. The change in absorbance was calculated by Tube 1 which contained the chelating agent EDTA, had the highest change in absorbance, which was also positive. Both Tube 2 and Tube 3 had lower and negative changes in absorbance. We can also see a trend of absorbance, or formation of product through the color change as time progressed. Tubes with positive and higher changes in absorbance like Tube 1 and Tube 4 (Control tube) changed to more prominent colors like orange. Tubes with negative changes of absorbance like Tube 2 and Tube 3 experienced little color change and produced very light colors, for example, a clear-yellow. The intensity of the colors produced throughout the experiment in each tube reflect the amount of reaction happening. The more prominent or intense the color change is, the larger the absorbance of green light, therefore generating a greater formation of