Essay about Potato Catalase Lab

H2O2 is commonly known as hydrogen peroxide and it is a strong oxidizer and a naturally produced compound in humans as a by-product of oxidative metabolism. Because of this, humans also produce the enzyme catalase peroxidases in order to convert small amounts of H2O2 into oxygen and water. It uses the following chemical formula:

The Effects of Varied Temperatures, pH Values, Enzyme Concentrations, and Substrate Concentrations on the Enzymatic Activity of Catecholase

The practical was carried out to investigate the effect of pH on the reaction of the enzyme acid phosphatase.

Students will be observing normal catalase reaction, the effect of temperature on enzyme activity, and the effect of pH on enzyme activity in this experiment. The enzymes will all around perform better when exposed in room temperature than when it is exposed to hot and cold temperatures. This is based on the fact that the higher the temperature, the better the enzymes will perform, but as the temperature reaches a certain high degree, the enzymes will start to denature, or lose their function.

Introduction: Starting out with some background information, I know that enzymes are biological catalysts. The enzyme that I used for this experiment was potato juice. Enzymes make reaction rates go faster. They lower activation energy, making chemical reactions. Temperature has an effect on canola cultivars. The higher temperature decreased stem diameter, but room temperature had thicker stems. So I believe the same will happen for the catechol oxidase; the solution will react faster at room temperature. Other enzymes can also have different effects such as the enzyme in cattle serum. The enzyme lost activity in room temperature. With that being said room temperature can also be detrimental with specific enzymes. Fungus also

The purpose of this experiment was to simply measure oxygen production rates released from decomposed hydrogen peroxide under different conditions (concentration of enzymes, temperature, and PH level).

Lab six requires students to observe the effects of pH and enzyme concentration on catecholase activity. Enzymes are organic catalysts that can affect the rate of a chemical reaction depending on the pH level and the concentration of the enzyme. As pH comes closer to a neutral pH the enzyme is at its greatest effectiveness. Also at the absorbance of a slope of 0.0122 the enzyme is affected greatly. The pH effect on enzymes can be tested by trying each pH level with a pH buffer of the same pH as labeled as the test tube and 1mL of potato juice, water, and catechol. This is all mixed together and put in the spectrophotometer to test how much is being absorbed at 420nm. As the effect on enzyme concentration can be tested almost the same way. This part of the exercise uses different amounts of pH 7-phosphate buffer and potato juice, and 1mL of catechol mixed together in a test tube. Each substance is put in the spectrophotometer at a wavelength set tot 420nm. The results are put down for every minute up to six minutes to see how enzyme concentration affects reaction rate. The results show that the pH 8 (0.494) affects the enzyme more than a pH of 4 (0.249), 6 (0.371), 7 (0.456), and 10 (0.126). Also the absorbance is greatest at a slope of 0.0122 with test tube C that has more effect on the reaction rate, than test tube A, B, and D.

5.  What reaction would you expect when performing a negative control in the catalase assay?

5. Heat treatment was used to denature the sucrase that was added to the control test tube. In the experimental test tube, alkaline

The aim of my investigation is to see how pH affects the activity of potato tissue catalase, during the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to produce water and oxygen.

However, there exist a natural process occurs which converts hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen gas, thus preventing potential harm to the body. This reaction is illustrated by the equation

The chemical hydrogen peroxide(H₂O₂) is broken down by the enzyme catalase. Hydrogen peroxide is a byproduct formed in cellular reactions that, if not broken down, could inflict severe damage to the cell. Catalase is an enzyme that breaks down hydrogen peroxide in to water and oxygen. How efficient and strong the enzymes reaction to break down H₂O₂ determines largely on temperature and pH level. An enzyme only functions within a set pH and temperature range. Beyond that it becomes denatured, rendering it useless. The purpose of this lab is to determine at which temperature and pH level the enzyme catalase reacts best. Catalase in chicken and beef livers will be used to do the lab because enzymes still function after death as long as they are kept refrigerated at a low temperature.

In the exercise # 2 we observed the effect of substrate concentration, enzyme concentration, pH and temperature on enzyme activity. All the data showed that once potato extract was added to catechol and water the reaction varied dependent on the level of catechol. As in

A catalase is an enzyme that protects cells from oxidative damage. It does so by breaking down hydrogen peroxide, which the catalase generates during cell metabolism. Catalase deactivates millions of hydrogen peroxide molecules per second. First, the catalase breaks down hydrogen peroxide by removing and binding one oxygen atom and next releasing the rest of the hydrogen peroxide molecule as water. Then, the catalase breaks down a second hydrogen peroxide molecule by releasing oxygen gas and water. The optimum temperature- the temperature at which the enzyme is the most active at- is 40°C. Also, the optimum pH level for the catalase is pH 7.

This experiment is designed to analyze how the enzyme catalase activity is affected by the pH levels. The experiment has also been designed to outline all of the directions and the ways by which the observation can be made clearly and accurately. Yeast, will be used as the enzyme and hydrogen peroxide will be used as a substrate. This experiment will be used to determine the effects of the concentration of the hydrogen peroxide versus the rate of reaction of the enzyme catalase.