Investigating the effect of sucrose concentration on the conversion into glucose and fructose by invertase

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              Investigating the effect of sucrose concentration on the      

              Conversion into Glucose and Fructose by Invertase

                                                    Prediction

 

I would expect to find that an increase of sucrose concentration would lower the time taken for the clinistix to turn blue from red, or said in other words, the rate of reaction would increase with an increase of substrate concentration until a certain point where maximum rate of reaction will be reached.

Higher concentration of sucrose has more molecules inside it therefore it is more likely that a collision will take place, molecules must collide in order to react. This means that a reaction is more likely to take place in a shorter time, making the rate of reaction quicker until it reaches the maximum rate of reaction, where increase in substrate concentration would not increase the reaction rate because at this point all the active sites are full. (1)

                                     Analysing Evidence

By looking at my graph showing the Average Time Taken (s) for the clinistix to turn blue against Sucrose concentration (%), I can say that the general trend seems to be that as the sucrose concentration increases, the average time taken for the clinistix to turn blue, decreases. This is shown on my graph by a linear relationship that goes down (negative correlation).

But for more detailed interpretation I will concentrate on my second graph, which shows the Rate of Reaction against Sucrose Concentration:

Between 0.5% and 1%, there is a big increase in the reaction rate, as concentration is doubled. There are more substrate molecules and therefore there is higher probability of substrate molecules to bump into the enzyme’s active site and to form an enzyme-substrate complex.

Between 1% and 2%, there is still increase in the reaction rate because of the extra substrate molecules which bind to the active sites quicker. More collisions between the substrate molecules and enzymes take place.

Between 2% and 4%, the rate of enzyme reaction is still increasing with an increase in substrate concentration, as there are even more substrate molecules which have higher chance to collide to an enzyme and bind to it’s active site, making the reaction faster by forming more enzyme-substrate complexes for a shorter time.

Between 4% and 8%, of sucrose concentration, there is a slight increase in the rate of enzyme reaction. Here the rate of reaction is no longer proportional to the substrate concentration. The curve showing increase of rate of reaction, starts to flatten, as the enzyme Invertase is approaching the maximum rate at which it can combine with substrate molecules and form enzyme-substrate complex. Between these two concentrations the active sites of all enzymes start to get occupied and at 8% they are all full and cannot release products. At sucrose concentration of 8% enzyme saturation limits reaction rate and further increase will not speed the rate of reaction. (2) + (3)

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                                     Scientific Knowledge

Enzymes are proteins that serve as catalysts and accelerate chemical reactions in living organisms. Enzymes accomplish this by lowering the activation energy of the organism it is acting upon, however enzymes will only lower the activation energy of activation for specific organisms, reducing chaotic chemical reactions. The reaction is carried out in the active site of the enzyme. The substrate (organism acted upon), binds itself into the active site of the enzyme, and the chemical process begins. ...

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