Essay On Effect Of Temperature On Catalase

729 Words2 Pages

How does the temperature (-2°C, 20°C, 30°C, 40°C, 60°C) affect the production of oxygen (cm3) from cow hepatic (the enzyme catalase) when placed in boiling tube with 10 ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide for 1 minute?

Background Knowledge:
Enzymes are biology catalysts which speed up the rate of a reaction (BBC News). Catalase is an enzyme which is found in one’s body and can destroy any harmful substances. Without catalase, many toxic materials could attack and mutate DNA. Catalase is located in the hepatic and when mixed with hydrogen peroxide, it breaks it down into oxygen and water. When the reaction happens it follows this equation: 2H2O2 → 2H2O + O2 ("Catalase.").

Hydrogen peroxide is known as a waste product which is the made during respiration. …show more content…

When the temperature of the solution is increased, the rate of the reaction increases as well however when it reaches a certain temperature of 40ºC, it begins to decrease. This is because the activity of the enzyme will increase. When the temperature is increased, the reactant particles move faster and have more energy. The particle collisions happen more often, and the more collisions happening the faster the reaction, hence increasing the rate of the reaction. The collisions speed up due to the increase in the kinetic energy and velocity that follows when the temperature increases. When there is a faster velocity, the time that is taken between collisions is less (“Effect of Temperature on Enzyme Activity.”). Which also results in more molecules to reach their activation energy hence increasing the rate of …show more content…

Additionally, the most important part of an enzyme is called the active site, this is where molecules bind to the enzyme when the reactions are taking place. Enzymes are very specific and if the shape changes of the active site, this stops the enzyme from functioning. When the temperature is increased significantly it will cause a permanent change to the shape of the active site and the enzymes will stop working, they will become denatured. The bonds which are holding the structure are called intermolecular bonds (e.g hydrogen) are broken easily by heat. Thus when the enzyme is heated, these bonds are broken, the active site specificity is no more, and therefore it becomes denatured and is no longer a functioning catalyst (“Introduction to Enzymes.”).
When studying Biology, my favorite topic has always been enzymes, no matter what grade we study them in; it's the one that appeals to me the most. Enzymes are needed for almost everything that we’ve studied in biology, and it interests me how for each topic they have a different purpose. A few examples of this would be that Pectinase can be used to increase the amount of juice production in an apple, whilst an enzyme like amylase breaks down the starch in our

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