The Effect of the Enzyme Catalase on Hydrogen Peroxide When the Temperature is Changed

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The Effect of the Enzyme Catalase on Hydrogen Peroxide When the Temperature is Changed

Plan:

Chemical reactions take place in all living cells. All of these

reactions are enzyme-driven. Some of these reactions produce

by-products. One by-product is Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2). It is a

poison and must be removed from the cells. The cell produces an enzyme

called Catalase to break down the Hydrogen Peroxide into water and

oxygen. This experiment will investigate the effect of temperature on

the rate of the breaking down of Hydrogen Peroxide by Catalase. I will

do this by measuring how much oxygen is produced when Catalase and

Hydrogen Peroxide react.

I predict that as the temperature increases, the rate of the reaction

will increase. I think that when the temperature is doubled, so the

reaction rate will also double. This is due to the particle theory. As

the temperature rises, the particles move faster and collide more

often. This gives the "lock and key" reaction more chance to occur.

Therefore, as it is a temperature coefficient with a Q10 of 2, if the

temperature is raised by 10ºC, the particles will move doubly fast,

collide twice as often and the rate of reaction will double. There

will be a point when this relationship isn't true. This will be at

around 60ºC when the enzyme denatures.

To make this a fair test, we need to keep the same all variables that

could affect the outcome except for the one being tested, temperature.

So the pH, amount of solutions used, concentration of solutions,

apparatus etc. must all remain the same.

As my source of Catalase, I will use potato. This is easier to cut and

measure than other sources such as liver, which would be hard to cut

into equal pieces. The potato "chip" will be pre-warmed in a boiling

tube in a water bath of each temperature for 10 minutes, as will 20cm3

of H2O2. Once the desired temperature is reached, the chip and H2O2

will be mixed in the boiling tube, shook a couple of times and placed

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