The Use Of Enzymes

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Recommended: Importance of enzymes in metabolism

To investigate the amount of oxygen foam (cm) produced by the enzyme catalase when it breaks down hydrogen peroxide in the animal (liver, milk, honey) and plant cells(potato, purple cabbage) into oxygen and water
Motivation:
The reason I chose this topic was because I wanted to find out what enzymes are used for, to what extent they are used in our bodies and, how vast are their applications in food industries.
Enzymes have been used in research, mainly because of their ability to facilitate reactions without being changed themselves as well as their ability to speed up these reactions, which would otherwise take a much longer period of time to complete. And it is these two features that compel me to conduct further research into the applications of enzymes.
Their applications in the processing of foods are what interest me the most. Food enzymes are proteins that are used as catalysts in a variety of biochemical processes that are done to enhance the quality of different food products like milk and baked goods like bread. Enzymes have also been used in wine production, food packaging, processing of dairy products. For this is why I chose to investigate the amount of catalase found in animal products (liver, milk, honey) and plant products (potato, purple cabbage) by measuring the amount of oxygen foam produced (cm) when these products are exposed to hydrogen peroxide.
Catalase is found in every cell of every organism on earth, in humans it is used to breakdown hydrogen peroxide which is toxic to humans to useful elements to the body like water and molecular oxygen.

Concept Diagram

Literature review
Before one can even begin to understand catalase one must first understand what an enzyme is. Enzymes are biological...

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...l of distilled water, blend for 2 minutes on high speed until mixture is smooth with no lumps (measure the weight of the cabbage using the scale).
12. Label five test tubes; A, B, C, D, and E with the permanent marker.
13. Place 5ml of honey in test tube A using a syringe.
14. Place 5ml of milk in test tube B using a syringe.
15. Place 5ml of blended liver into test tube C using a measuring cylinder.
16. Place 5ml of blended purple cabbage in test tube D using a measuring cylinder.
17. Place 5g of potato in test tube E
18. Be sure to clean the syringe and measuring cylinder after every use to prevent cross contamination.
19. Place all five test tubes on the test tube rack.
20. In each test tube, place 5ml of pure hydrogen peroxide into each test-tube using the syringe.
21. Observe outcome.
22. Record results by measuring the amount of foam produced and tabulate.

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