Enzyme Lab Report

Effects of Substrate Concentration On Rate of Chemical Reaction

Abstract: Hydrogen peroxide breaks down into water and oxygen, and this chemical reaction is sped up by catalase, which is found in liver. The hypothesis was that as the amount the concentration of hydrogen peroxide increases, the higher the amount of this chemical reaction will occur. Different concentrations of hydrogen peroxide were mixed with a catalase solution, and the oxygen produced was collected and measured. The results showed a large increase in oxygen produced as the concentration of hydrogen peroxide was increased. This matched the hypothesis fairly well, although the means for collecting oxygen were not perfectly accurate. This experiments shows how the enzyme catalase speeds up the chemical reaction in hydrogen peroxide.

Introduction: Hydrogen peroxide will often times break down into water and oxygen, 2H202 → 2H2O + O2. This process is immensely sped up when hydrogen peroxide is mixed with the enzyme catalase. Hydrogen peroxide fits in to catalase perfectly, and it is able to undergo this chemical reaction very fast. Catalase is found in large concentrations in liver. The purpose of this lab was to investigate how the concentration of a substrate (hydrogen peroxide) affects the rate of chemical reaction. To measure the amount of chemical reaction, the O2 produced by the reaction was collected and measured. The hypothesis was that as the concentration of Hydrogen Peroxide increases, the rate of chemical reaction would increase as well. The relationship between the two would be a positive correlation.

Materials and Methods: Equipment includes Erlenmeyer flask, stopper for Erlenmeyer flask with tube, pneumatic trough, graduated cylinder, water, hydrogen peroxide solutions of different concentrations, and liver containing catalase. 5 mL of liver solution (1 gram of liver per mL) was used for each trial, and 50 mL of hydrogen peroxide solution was used each trial. Both the...