The Effect of a Catalase on the Breakdown of Hydrogen Peroxide

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The Effect of a Catalase on the Breakdown of Hydrogen Peroxide Aim To follow the progress of a catalysed reaction by measuring the volume of gas produced as the reaction proceeds. Using the initial rates of a series of experiments I will be able to find the orders of the reaction with respect to enzyme and substrate. Also to find out if concentration has an effect on the reaction when an enzyme is used to accelerate the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide. Introduction / Background Information. This is an experiment to examine how the concentration of the substrate Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) affects the rate of reaction of the enzyme Catalase. In this experiment I will be using yeast as a source of catalase. Enzymes are catalysts which speed up specific reactions. Enzymes such as catalase are protein molecules, which speed up a specific reaction within the cell. They are all very specific as each enzyme just performs one particular reaction. Catalase is an enzyme found in food such as potato and liver, (in this case I will be using yeast as my source) It is used for removing hydrogen peroxide from cells. This need to be done as hydrogen peroxide is the poisonous by product of the metabolism. Catalase speeds up the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen as shown in the equation below. 2H2O(aq) à 2H2O(l) + O2 (g) It is able to speed up the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide because the shape of its active site matches the shape of the hydrogen peroxide molecule. This type of reaction were a molecule is broken down into smaller pieces is called an anabolic reaction. I will be studying the effect of concentration of the catalase in this reaction. Hypothesis Hydrogen peroxide will breakdown to oxygen in water in the presence of catalase. The reaction will increase with the increasing enzyme concentration when the molecules of hydrogen peroxide are freely available. The more concentrated the catalase the more chance of the

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