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The Effect Of Enzyme Concentration On Rate Of Reaction

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Enzyme concentration has a direct impact on the rate of reaction. When looking at graph 1 it is easy to see a linear relationship between the rate of formation of NADH and the concentration of the enzyme. As enzyme concentration increases the rate of reaction increases because substrates are more likely to collide with available enzymes. Le Chatelier's principle supports this as adding more enzyme will cause the reaction to shift more towards the enzyme substrate complex which will result in the rate of the reaction increasing. Based on this data we were able to choose the best enzyme dilution factor for the remaining experiments. From the data gathered in table 1 we decided that a 1:5 dilution was the optimal dilution factor for the rest of the experiment. A 1:2 dilution was far too concentrated and as a result its rate was changing too rapidly. Other more dilute concentrations were usable but they are fairly slow in comparison to a 1:5 dilution and as a result it would be more difficult to see changes in rate. For enzymes the pH of their environment is crucial in determining how well they function. Many enzymes get denatured at certain pH values because some residues in their active site can either get protonated or deprotonated which could make the reaction impossible. Even if an enzyme’s active site wouldn’t be directly affected by changes in pH the actual shape of the enzyme can be changed as the change in pH will cause a change in the intermolecular forces between

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