Aspect 3 – Developing a method for collection of data
- Use a suitable range of temperatures that will show how the enzymatic activity is affected by temperature.
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List of equipment and materials: minced potato, beaker bung, burette, grater, syringe, electronic scale, measuring cylinder, conical flask, kettle, plastic tube, water container, thermometer, buffer solution, H2O2, water, stopwatch.
DATA COLLECTION AND PROCESSING
Aspect 1 - Recording raw data
Aspect 2 - Processing raw data
Aspect 3 - Presenting processed data
Rate of reaction
CONCLUSION AND EVALUATION
Aspect 1 – Concluding
I can conclude that the temperature affects the enzymatic activity as expected. If the temperature it is too high, the enzymes cannot work properly, however if their environment is not warm enough, their rate of reaction is lower. In this experiment, the ideal temperature at which the enzymes work the best is around 60ºC, as it is shown, were the highest point in the Rate of reaction graph is at 60ºC. Below this temperature, the enzymes work less efficiently than they do at 60º and it can also be seen on the graph, where all temperatures higher or lower than 60ºC are below the highest point. Also, if the temperature is above 60ºC the graph shows us a decrease in the rate of reaction indicating that at that temperature, enzymes start to denaturate so their rate of reaction decreases.
So, my hypothesis has been proved. Enzymes are affected by temperature by increasing or decreasing their rate of reaction. Enzymatic activity then, has its best performance at around 60ºC, since at lower or higher temperatures; the rate of reaction is lower.
Aspect 2 – Evaluating procedures
As it can be seen on the graph, there is an anomaly, which is the point standing out of the other points. The factors that could have been affecting the results are that the temperature was higher than it should have been or because the H202 was not measured so accurately. The results however, are very good in general it was a good practical.
Aspect 3 – Improving investigation
There are some aspects of the experiment that could be improved to get more accurately results and to avoid anomalies such as:
- Be more accurate with preparation of specimen, with the starting mass and size of it, use a machine to cute and grate it more accurately.
- Making sure the scale is exact.
- Potato affected by oxidation. It was not used immediately so a good improvement would be to prepare specimen and use it immediately.
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Use a wider range of temperatures such as 30oC, 35 o, 40 o, 45 o, 50 o, 55 o, 60 o, 65 o, 70oC to see closer how enzymes are working.
- Repeat the experiment two or three times to get more reliable results.
- Make sure that temperature is always steady while reaction is happening.
- Try the same experiment but with a different specimen, using carrots, apples or something else instead of potatoes.
