Enzyme concentration and rate of reaction

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              DOES ENZYME COCENTRATION AFFECT ENZYME ACTIVITY?

                                                 

                                                                  PLAN

The aim of the following experiment is to determine whether amount of enzyme concentration affects the enzyme activity in an enzyme catalysed reaction.

Hypothesis

Enzyme concentration affects enzyme activity. If this is so, then we should expect a correlation, either positive or negative, between the enzyme concentration and the rate of reaction. Activation energy is needed by every reaction to occur. A high enzyme concentration inevitably increases the rate of reaction. There is a directly proportional ratio (positive correlation) between the two, until a peak rate of reaction occurs where the rate cannot increase any further. This will produce a straight-line graph through the origin, which will eventually flatten off at peak rate. 

Scientific Background

   An enzyme is a class of protein, which acts as a biological catalyst to speed up the rate of reaction with its substrates. Enzymes have the ability to act on a small group of chemically similar substances. Enzymes are very specific, in the sense that each enzyme is limited to interact with only one set of reactants; the reactants are referred to as substrates. Substrates of an enzyme are the chemicals altered by enzyme-catalysed reactions. The extreme specific nature of enzymes is due to the complicated three-dimensional shape, which is due to the particular way the amino acid chain of protein folds. The three-dimensional contour limits the number of substrates that can possibly react to only those substrates that can specifically fit the enzyme surface. Enzymes have an active site, which the specific indent is caused by the amino acid on the surface that folds inwards. The active site only allows a substrate of the exact unique shape to fit; this is where the substance combines to form an enzyme-substrate complex. Forming an enzyme-substrate complex makes it possible for substrate molecules to combine to form a product.

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     For reactions to take place molecules of the reactants must require a certain amount of energy to cause collisions to take place. Molecules often do not react spontaneously because of the stability of molecular covalent bonds. Chemical reactions require an amount of energy to start them off; this is known as activation energy. Enzymes act catalysts to lower the required activation energy. Enzymes do this by weakening the covalent bond with a substrate molecule or by holding the substrate in a particular position that increases the probability of a reaction occurring. Products can only be formed when effective ...

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