Enzymes Lab Report

In biology class, we were learning about enzymes. Enzymes are proteins that help catalyze chemical reactions in our bodies. In the lab, we were testing the relationship between the enzyme catalase and the rate of a chemical reaction. We predicted that if there was a higher percentage of enzyme concentration, then the rate of chemical reaction would increase or it would take less time. We placed 1 ml of hydrogen peroxide into four depressions. Underneath the first depression, we place 1 ml of 100% catalase and make 50% dilution with 0.5 ml of water. We take 50% of that solution and dilute with 0.5 ml of water and we repeat it two more times. there were four depressions filled with catalase: 100%, 50%, 25% , 12.5 % with the last three diluted

This lab supported our hypothesis because the rate at which the paper discs rises tells us that enzyme concentration does have an effect on the timing of a chemical reaction. The six unifying principles prove that organisms have enzymes that speed up chemical reactions. At one point in time a certain common ancestor population didn’t have enzymes and some did. Thus it allowed for the advantaged to survive better and reproduce more. The offspring develop with the enzymes which their descendants will also have. The enzymes regulate by speeding up the chemical reaction so that the hydrogen peroxide won’t kill the cell(s). The hydrogen peroxide will enter the active site of the catalase and it will break apart into water and oxygen, which are

We hypothesized that the more heat that we put in or the more heat that we take out, would denature the enzymes and slow down the rate. We set up a plate of depressions the same way as above. We boiled water to 50o C, poured the water onto a tray and did the steps of placing the discs in same as above and timed it until they rose above the surface. We did the same process but instead of using heat, we put ice and cold water on a tray which was about 3.5o C. The control for this experiment was the one that we did before because it was at room temperature. The results for the hot tray showed no rate. The cold tray sped up the rate of reactions making it occur faster than at room temperature starting at 6 for 100% catalase. This lab supported and disproved our hypotheses. It supported our hypothesis for adding more heat because the enzymes were in such hot conditions that the heat denatured the enzyme, making it not possible to create a chemical reaction. So the rate of reaction was zero because the enzymes didn’t split apart hydrogen peroxide. The cold tray disproved our hypothesis. We thought that the cold tray would also denature the the catalase so that there would be little to no rate. Maybe the data came out this way because the catalase was left out in room temperature for a long time that maybe when we took away the heat, it sped up the reaction rate.