Potato Enzyme Reaction Lab

640 Words2 Pages

The end goal of this lab was to observe and compare the rate of reactions when they are affected by protein catalysts (enzymes) and non-protein catalysts under varying conditions. The reaction occurred the fastest when the liver and potato was crushed up to increase the surface area between the enzyme and the substrate. This proved the following hypothesis correct: it was hypothesized that if the liver and potato are broken up into smaller pieces, then the rate of reaction will increase because the surface area between the enzyme and its substrate will be increased, allowing the reaction to take place faster. This data fits with the induced fit model of enzymes because the more active sites that the substrates can react with, the faster the …show more content…

105-106). It was hypothesized that if the hydrogen peroxide was exposed to the liver, the hydrogen peroxide would decompose faster than the hydrogen peroxide exposed to the potato because complex organisms (like mammals and birds) require more ATP energy and therefore have an increased rate of cellular respiration, producing more hydrogen peroxide as a byproduct (Marziali, 2009). So, the enzymes in a complex organism are more likely to be able to decompose the hydrogen peroxide. This proved true in this lab, however, the enzyme in both potato and liver is the same, so it must be a different factor such as enzyme concentration that caused a different rate of reaction to be observed between the liver and the potato (Nuffield Foundation, 2011; Eed, …show more content…

This did not prove true as the reaction occurred the fastest at 37°C, the second fastest at 0°C, and the slowest at 100°C. When further research was conducted it became apparent that catalase denatures at 55°C and therefore could not effectively decompose the hydrogen peroxide in the experiment at 100°C (Clyde, 1950). On the other hand, there should not have been a significant difference between the sample at 0°C and the sample at 37°C because catalase is limited by the diffusion rate of hydrogen peroxide which is a process not heavily affected by temperature (Nicholls & Hewitson, n.d.). It was hypothesized that adding new enzymes will have no effect because the enzymes are not used up in the reaction, however, adding new hydrogen peroxide will cause an increase in the rate of reaction because there will be more products to react. This was proven true in this lab and fits the induced fit theory of enzymes and the basic chemical understanding of catalyzes (Clark, 2013; Giuseppe et al., 2002,

Open Document