Investigating the Effects Catalyse Has on Hydrogen Peroxide Solution

Investigating the Effects Catalyse Has on Hydrogen Peroxide Solution

Aim: I am going to investigate the effects which catalyse has on a

hydrogen peroxide solution

Preliminary work

We would use potato to do the experiment because we had done a

previous experiment when we put a piece of potato and liver into a

hydrogen peroxide solution and the rate of reaction for the liver was

too fast to measure and time. But the potato had a slower reaction

which will be easier to time and we can measure the size of the froth

using a ruler.

Theory

Enzymes are special shaped protein molecules which act as catalyst and

work in living organisms. Enzymes help speed up the rate of reactions.

Each enzyme has a unique 3D shape which means that they work with

certain types of substrates. This is also known as ‘lock and key’

because the shape of the substrate fits into the shape of the enzyme,

just the way a lock and key do. Enzymes work by attaching itself to

the substrate molecule. The substrate molecule brakes down where the

active site is. The substrate molecule splits and the enzyme is left

unaffected. The factors that affect enzymes are: temperature, pH and

surface area. Enzymes are used in everyday life because all living

things produce enzymes. Saliva in a human produces a lot of enzymes

for digestion. The optimum temperature for these enzymes to work in is

37.5 °C. Enzymes also perform best at a pH which is around neutral.

When an enzyme reaches 40°C it becomes denatured. Enzymes are also

used in industry e.g. bakery, cheese making, starch processing and

production of fruit juices and other drinks

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The substrate splits

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Active site

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This is a graph to show the rate of reaction of enzymes due to

temperature

graph showing effect of temperature

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Prediction

I predict that the potato cylinder with the diameter of 10mm will