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Introduction

PLANNING EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES Title of Investigation: Investigating the effect of the Temperature on the Enzyme Catalase when it reacts with Hydrogen peroxide. 1.Make a Prediction I predict that by increasing the temperature it would speed up the rate of the chemical reaction of the enzyme catalase. The higher the temperature the faster the reaction would occur. As the temperature first gets heated the particles move slowly, as the temperature gradually increases the particles start to move faster and faster and collide more often with enough kinetic energy. 2.Use your knowledge of science to explain why you made the prediction. Enzymes are biological catalyst, which speed up the rate of a Chemical reaction. Enzymes are found in every living cell, different biochemical reactions take place rapidly and simultaneously. An enzyme can be used over and over again without being chemically changed itself. Most enzymes are protein molecule, which are highly specific at catalysing one type of chemical reaction. Without enzymes these reactions would occur too slowly or not at all, and no life would be possible. All living cells make enzymes, but enzymes are not alive. Enzyme molecules function by altering other molecules. Enzymes combine with substrate molecules to form a complex molecular structure in which chemical reactions take place. The enzyme, which remains unchanged, then separates from the product of the reaction. All the reaction that happens inside the living cells goes on at a relatively low temperature. All the reactions that take place in the cells are called metabolic reactions. Every metabolic reaction is controlled by an enzyme, they are controlled in such way that useful products are made and they also get rid of waste materials. The first enzyme to be discovered was amylase, which catalyses the conversion of starch to Maltose. Enzymes work at a suitable temperature and this is known as the Optimum temperature. The enzyme catalase is a Peroxisome which catalyses the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide, a by-product of aerobic respiration. ...read more.

Middle

So therefore this suggests that I would have to use temperatures such as 70?c or 80?c to investigate this problem. So it would be very difficult to record these results. If I used the catalase enzyme with a strength of 60 eu/cm3 it will break down the hydrogen peroxide quiet quickly forming the products water and oxygen. I could record the results very easily and this will give me some accurate results. RESULTS TABLE Below is the result table that I have produced to show all my readings from the experiment. Temperature ?c Time it takes for the filter paper to sink and rise back to the top. (S) Average time in seconds Rate of Reaction Rate = 1000 Time taken (s) Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Run 4 Run 5 Run 6 10 8 9 8 7 8 9 8.2 122 20 8 6 8 9 9 7 7.8 128 30 6 6 5 5 5 5 5.3 189 40 4 5 4 4 5 5 4.5 222 50 4 5 3 3 4 4 3.8 263 60 3 2 3 2 3 3 2.7 370 80 The enzyme denatured, so therefore the filter paper took very, very long to rise back to the top. - ? 0 ANALYSIS As from the results table above it shows that as the average time for each of the temperature decreases, the rate at which these reaction occurs increases. So therefore a simple pattern in the results table could be explained as being, the average time decreases while the rate of reaction increases. The reason why the average time are decreasing is because the temperatures are getting higher so therefore the time it takes for the filter paper to sink to the bottom and rise back up to the top happens very fast due to the change in temperature, and the reason why the rate of reaction increases is because, the temperatures are getting higher each time, and the rate at which these reactions occur ...read more.

Conclusion

We might have gained errors in the practical experiment due to the equipments that we used, in other words the equipments that we used were they accurate enough to measure the solutions of the catalase and the hydrogen peroxide. The errors can also occur due to our ability of using these sorts of equipments, because if we don't know how to use some equipment then we may gain errors in the experiments because of our ability of using them. We must of the ability of using these sorts of equipments in an appropriate experiment. The likely errors that could have occurred in the experiment is that did we measure out the solution of hydrogen peroxide nearest to the top of the beaker, in other words was it almost full? To reduce these sorts of errors we could use more accurate equipments to measure out the solution of hydrogen peroxide for example we could use a burette or a graduated pipette to measure out the hydrogen peroxide or any other solutions. If I was to repeat the whole experiment again, this might enable me to gain better results from the different temperature. As I have stated above that I used the same hydrogen peroxide solution for every temperature that I did, so therefore there may have been some traces of catalase inside the hydrogen peroxide solution when I did different runs on the different temperatures, which may have effected the results so therefore to improve this I will repeat the whole experiment by using a fresh solution of hydrogen peroxide for every different temperatures that I do. By doing this I will hopefully gain some better results. If I repeated the experiment I could use more accurate equipments such as thermostatic water bath to keep the temperature constant, so therefore I will not have to wait for the temperature to come down to the right degrees each time when I do a different temperature, and also use a burette or a graduated pipette to measure out the solutions of hydrogen peroxide. ...read more.

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