In this investigation the aim is to find out whether the concentration of hydrogen peroxide affects the rate at which catalase breaks it down.

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Catalase Reaction

Aim: In this investigation the aim is to find out whether the concentration of hydrogen peroxide affects the rate at which catalase breaks it down.

Prediction: If we firstly see what a catalyst is, Catalyst is one of the factors which affect the speed of a reaction. Enzyme is one type of catalyst and catalase is an example of enzyme, which I will be using in my experiment. Enzymes work because they cover in active sites, which is more specific about molecules they will allow to stick on. It is often describe as a lock and key mechanism. In this experiment the lock is the catalase enzyme and the key is hydrogen peroxide. So increasing the concentration of hydrogen peroxide will increase the rate of catalase reaction because the laws of the kinetic theory states; that if there are less atoms (decreasing hydrogen peroxide concentration) there will be less collisions because it takes more time for catalase to catalyse the reaction below (fig 1.). It is expected that the time taken for oxygen to evolve will increase as the hydrogen peroxide becomes less concentrated (i.e. By increasing addition of water) (look at results table)

Hydrogen