The Effect of Temperature on Enzyme Activity
The purpose of this lab practice is to investigate the effects of temperature on the denaturation of enzymes.
Introduction: The main biological concept explored was enzyme activity, enzymes are biological molecules (proteins) that act as catalysts and help complex reactions occur everywhere in life. Enzymes are impacted by temperature and pH of their environment, because these factors can denature an enzyme. Denaturing an enzyme is the process of altering the shape of an enzyme, making it unable to serve its proper function. The independent variable in this experiment is the temperature of the catalase (enzyme). The dependant variable is the speed of the reaction taking place. Some controls added are the concentration of hydrogen peroxide, the container type used to house the reaction, and the timer used to record. The hypothesis concurred before this experiment was that the warmer the temperature of the catalase, the quicker the reaction will progress because as temperature increases, so does the rate of reaction because the molecules are moving faster and have a higher chance of colliding with each other.
Materials:
· Filter paper circles
· Room temperature, cold, and hot potato catalase
· 40 mL 3% hydrogen peroxide
· Microplate
· 1 mL pipette
· Forceps
· Thermometer
· Timer
The baseline reaction was modified by changing temperature of catalase instead of strength
Procedure:
1. Label three medicine cups: Cold, Room temp, and Hot. (catalase containers)
2. Label one larger cup Hydrogen Peroxide 3%.
3. Fill all the containers according to their labels, roughly full.
4. Set up the microplate.
5. Use transfer pipette to fill nine wells with 1 mL of hydrogen peroxide.
6. Get out timer.
7. Starting with the first row, use the forceps to pick up a circle of filter paper and dip it carefully in your first temperature of solution.
8. Dip the wet filter paper into row one place one of the microplate.
9. Immediately after this, begin timing to see how long it takes the filter paper to rise to the surface.
10. Leave the filter paper disk in the solution to indicate completion.
11. Once this has been achieved, record the timing.
12. Repeat steps 7-11 for the other two temperatures.
13. Calculate averages for each temperature.
Data/Observations:
Cold (-2C)
Room Temp (23C)
Hot (55C)
Trial 1
11.38 s
8.85 s
>90 s
Trial 2
10.15 s
10.43 s
>90 s
Trial 3
8.55 s
10.86 s
>90 s
Average
10.28 s
10.08 s
>90 s
Observations: Independent variables Cold and Room Temp catalase were the most ideal temperatures for enzymatic reactions to occur the fastest.
Analysis/Conclusion:
The hypothesis made only partially supported the hypothesis. It was proposed that the higher the temperature of the catalase the faster the reaction would progre...
