Enzyme Lab Report

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Enzymes work in an assortment of environments such as varying enzyme concentrations, pHs, and temperatures. The enzyme used in the experiment, catalase, works in a variety of aerobic organisms. The enzyme formed a substrate with the hydrogen peroxide in order to break it down. Catalase works to breakdown toxic hydrogen peroxide in cells and creates a by-product of harmless water and oxygen. The A spectrophotometer was used to identify the indicator solution, guaiacol, added to the various solutions in the experiment. When guaiacol fluctuates from clear to orange, this means that oxygen has been detected in the solution. A spectrophotometer measures these changes as the solution continues to a darker orange. In the experiment, the spectrophotometer was set to measure 500 nm, or the wavelengths of light. A “blank” cuvette was inserted into the spectrophotometer containing the same constituents as the experiment cuvettes in order to calibrate the machine. The hypothesis of this experiment was that temperature would have the…show more content…
This could be because the when a reaction is taking place, the higher the concentration, the faster the substrate forms. Once the enzyme concentration is used up, the reaction plateaus at the highest point. This could explain the high rate of change because the enzyme is quickly being “used up.” Temperature had a lesser effect on the rate of change. No matter how hot, 100 degrees Celsius, or how cold, 0 degrees Celsius, the temperature was, the rate of change remained the same. This could prove that temperature had the worst effect on the rate of change, even though the enzyme still reacted. The rate of change in pH was the worst, however, an acidic solution showed to have more of an effect of the rate of change than a basic solution. It is possible that the enzymes catalase is not affected by pH or temperature as much as the concentration of the

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