Catalase And Hydrogen Peroxide SC1 Essay, Research Paper

Aim:

To investigate the effect of temperature on the enzyme catalase. Prediction:

Using my existing scientific knowledge, I predict that as I raise the temperature to 30, 35, and 40, this is where we will see the greatest reaction. I predict this because enzymes are designed to react best at the body temperatures of the animals to which they belong. For a mammal, this is around 35-36. Catalysts are used to speed up biochemical reactions in the body. An enzyme is a protein molecule that speeds up chemical reactions in all living things. Without enzymes, these reactions would occur too slowly or not at all, and no life would be possible. All living cells make enzymes, but enzymes are not alive. Enzyme molecules function by altering other molecules. Enzymes combine with the altered molecules to form a complex molecular structure in which chemical reactions take place. The enzyme, which remains unchanged, then separates from the product of the reaction. Therefore, an enzyme is a sort of biological catalyst. Those enzymes identified now number more than 700. Enzymes are classified into several broad categories, such as hydrolytic, oxidising, and reducing, depending on the type of reaction they control. Hydrolytic enzymes accelerate reactions in which a substance is broken down into simpler compounds through reaction with water molecules. Oxidising enzymes, known as oxidises, accelerate oxidation reactions; reducing enzymes speed up reduction reactions, in which oxygen is removed. Catalase is present in the peroxisomes (microbody organelles that house various oxidation reactions in which toxic peroxides are generated as side products) of nearly all aerobic cells. It serves to protect the cell from the toxic effects of hydrogen peroxide by catalysing its decomposition into molecular oxygen and water without the production of free radicals (An atom or a group of atoms with an unpaired electron. Radicals are unusually reactive and are capable of causing a wide range of biological damage) Hydrogen Peroxide=2H2O2

Hydrogen Peroxide+Catalase=Oxygen+Water Apparatus:

Measuring cylinderTo hold 100ml of water. This was thoroughly cleaned with tap water beforehand to ensure that the water was not contaminated with anything. This may have led to anomalous results in the long-term.

Clay BeehiveTo provide somewhere to connect the pipe from the mixture to the water. It also acted as a ledge to hold the measuring cylinder as it stood upside-down.

TubTo hold water and everything in place.

StopclockTo time experiment. I ensured that the experiment was timed as soon as it began because if it hadn’t, then the results may have been inaccurate.

Water bathTo heat chemicals.

Conical FlaskTo hold the yeast and hydrogen peroxide solution together once the experiment had begun. This needed to be cleaned using water to ensure that nothing would contaminate the solution.Diagram:

Method:

I set up the experiment as shown above. I filled the tub full of water. I then placed the beehive in the water. Then I filled a measuring cylinder with exactly 100.0ml of water and placed it on the beehive in the water without letting any of the water in the measuring cylinder escape. I needed it to be exactly 100.0ml so that I could measure it exactly, from a starting point which is relatively easy to remember. After all, 100.0ml is a lot easier to remember than 87.3ml! The measuring cylinder was thoroughly cleaned to ensure as little impurities in the water as I could possibly control. Whilst this was being set up, I had already prepared 40.00ml of yeast and 20.00ml of hydrogen peroxide in separate boiling tubes. At this point, it was very important that I kept the two substances apart because if they had been mixed, they would have begun to react The boiling tubes were both cleaned to ensure the chemicals didn’t react with anything, and were as “pure” as possible before the experiment began. When I was certain that it was all prepared, I poured both liquids into a conical flask and fixed on a bung with an attached tube. This operation needed to be practised before the experiment was done for real to ensure it was done as quickly as possible. After all, the hydrogen peroxide and yeast solution will have started reacting as soon as they came into contact. I connected the tube to the clay beehive and measuring cylinder, which were both already prepared in the water. From the very beginning, I started the stopclock timing and noted down how much oxygen had been reacted and had travelled down the pipe into the 100ml of water in the measuring cylinder. I noted down the volume of water that was left in the measuring cylinder after five minutes, taking a result every minute. I chose to take down the result for five minutes because any longer than that and there was none, or barely any water remaining in the measuring cylinder. This is because the yeast and the hydrogen peroxide would have finished reacting completely.

Variables:

Variable:The temperatures of the hydrogen peroxide and the yeast. Controlled Variables:

Volume of water in the measuring cylinder: 100.0ml

Times: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 minutes

Types of liquid: Water, Hydrogen Peroxide, and Yeast solution

Volumes of substances:40.00ml yeast, 20.00ml hydrogen peroxide

Room temperature:25ºC approximately

Temperatures of mixture:20.0?C, 30.0?C, 40.0?C, 50.0?C, and 60.0?C. These must be kept as exactly as possible as yeast is very receptive to changes in temperature. If these variables were altered, it would not be fair test. Results:

20.0020.0020.00 Avg30.0030.0030.00 Avg

0100.00100.00100.000100.00100.00100.00

175.0058.0066.50141.0042.0041.50

261.0045.0053.0022.0010.006.00

350.0027.0038.5030.000.000.00

439.0013.0026.0040.000.000.00

530.002.0016.0050.000.000.00

40.0040.0040.00 Avg50.0050.0050.00 Avg

0100.00100.00100.000100.00100.00100.00

158.0060.0059.00125.0022.0023.50

239.0027.0033.0020.000.000.00

318.009.0013.5030.000.000.00

42.000.001.0040.000.000.00

50.000.000.0050.000.000.00

60.0060.0060.00 Avg

0100.00100.00100.00

169.0028.0048.50

226.002.0014.00

35.000.002.50

40.000.000.00

50.000.000.00 Graphs on following pages Conclusion:

I conclude that my prediction was partly correct. I was correct by saying that the reaction would be quicker as the temperature was 30?, but it was slower at 40? and again quicker at 50?. This may be because the catalyst, in this case catalase worked best at that temperature, allowing for more successful collisions between the yeast and hydrogen peroxide molecules.. I cannot explain these results because I can guarantee that I made sure that it remained a fair test throughout the experiment. I didn´t alter any of the other variables. All the other results came out to be what I expected, with the reactions slower at 20? and 60?. Evaluation:

I was a little surprised at some of the results, and if I were to do this experiment again, I would try to discover what it was that gave these findings. I would also do the experiments for every 5? instead of every 10?. I would also measure other variables, to ensure that there cannot be any more fluke results. I would conduct the experiment more times to get a more accurate average. Although I conducted the experiment as accurately as I could there were many sources of error in the method that I used. Firstly, some help from friends was required to begin the experiment and this lead to a small delay in starting the stopclock. I would have to find a way to be a little more accurate. This would ensure that my results were as accurate and as precise as I could possibly get them.