What I will be investigating is the average height of foam that is produced when catalase reacts with hydrogen peroxide.

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Biology Coursework

Enzymes are biological catalysts that speed up the rates or reactions by both breaking down and building up compounds, enzymes are 3-D globular proteins. A catalyst is any substance which makes a chemical reaction go faster, without being changed. A catalyst can be used over again in a chemical reaction: it does not get used up. Enzymes are very much the same except that they are easily
denatured.

The active site of an enzyme is where the substrates and bind and undergo a chemical reaction. The active site of an enzyme is complementary in shape to the substrate, they work together like a “lock and key”, (diagrams shown above and right). This explains the process of enzyme specificity. Each enzyme fits only one substrate (or a very small number) therefore there is a different enzyme for each reaction.


There are a few variables that effect enzyme activity such as the pH of the enzyme, the surface area of the enzyme, the substrate being used and finally the temperature which is what we are aiming to investigate. When enzymes are at a low temperature activity is low because the substrates and enzyme molecules move slowly and there is fewer collisions between them. When an enzyme activity reaches the optimum temperature, the maximum enzyme activity occurs because of high kinetic energy and a high amount of collisions. When the enzyme passes the optimum temperature the enzyme will denature because there is so much kinetic energy that the enzyme vibrates more, that the bonds holding the enzyme together begin to break and the enzyme loses its shape meaning that the substrate will no longer fit.

What I will be investigating is the average height of foam that is produced when catalase reacts with hydrogen peroxide. Below is the equation that I will use –

Hydrogen Peroxide                                      Oxygen + Water
(H
2O2)                             (Catalase)                (O2)          (2H2O2)
(Substrate)                     (Enzyme)                     (Products)

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As you can see from above, the substrate I will be using is Hydrogen Peroxide, the enzyme is Catalase and the products of the experiment are Oxygen and Water I will measure the height of the foam produces from the reaction, (the foam is produce when oxygen reacts with the detergent that is added) and how I will make my results reliable is by repeating my experiment. I will do the experiment once and then repeat it twice to make my result more reliable.

Prediction
I predict my optimum temperature for the enzyme catalase to be between 35°C - 40°C.The ...

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