Catalyse Investigation

The first 200 words of this essay...

Catalyse is an enzyme that breaks down hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen.

Hydrogen Peroxide Water + Oxygen

2H2O2 2H2O +O2

The factors that affect enzyme activity are:

· Enzyme concentration (Gareth Williams, Biology For You page 31)

· Substrate concentration (Mary + Geoff Jones, Biology page )

· Temperature (Gareth Williams, Biology For You page 31)

· pH (Gareth Williams, Biology For You page 31)

Background Information

Enzymes such as catalyse are protein molecules, which are found in living cells. They are used to speed up specific reactions in the cells. They are all very specific as each enzyme just performs one particular reaction.

Catalyse is an enzyme found in food such as potato and liver. It is used for removing Hydrogen Peroxide from the cells. Catalyse speeds up the decomposition of Hydrogen Peroxide into water and oxygen. It is able to speed up the decomposition of Hydrogen Peroxide because of the shape of the Hydrogen Peroxide molecule. This type of reaction where a molecule is broken down into smaller pieces is called an anabolic reaction.

In my investigation I will study the effect of enzyme concentration on