Investigating The Rate Of Enzyme Activity With Varying Enzyme Concentration.

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Investigating The Rate Of Enzyme Activity With Varying Enzyme Concentration.

Introduction.

In this experiment I hope to find out the effects of enzyme concentration on the rate of enzyme activity. I will do this by watching the varying levels of reactivity whilst experimenting with liver (which contains catalase) and hydrogen peroxide that will react to give off oxygen.

Enzymes are biological catalysts that work according to the lock and key hypothesis. Enzymes contain an active site where the reaction of the two substrates takes place; the shape of this active site determines how effective the enzyme is. The higher the temperature the more collisions between the enzyme and substrates so the more reactions can take place. If the enzyme becomes too hot it will become denatured and the active site will be mutated and ineffective. Also, pH has an effect on the effectiveness of an enzyme. An enzyme needs to be in the right environment (pH) or it again becomes denatured and useless.

Before I carried out the final experiment I did preliminary work in which I tried various ways of measuring the oxygen given off from the reaction. The first problem I came