Enzyme Lab

Introduction/ Abstract An enzyme is a substance produced by a living organism that acts as a catalyst to bring about a specific biochemical reaction. They are mainly made up of proteins and can tremendously speed up reactions. E. coli ( a bacterium) has about 1,000 different types of enzymes floating around in its cytoplasm at any given time. Enzymes can be used to join and even break up molecules as shown in the diagram below.

(1) A maltose molecule is about to go into an maltase enzyme which are shaped to fit maltose molecules perfectly. (2) The molecule enters the enzymes active site and prepares to be broken down. (3) The maltose molecule's bonds are broken
| There was a slow reaction | 1.5 | Error Analysis During this experiment, a couple of errors were made on our part. For one, the livers weren't cut out to be the same size which may have skewed the results. The second error would be something we couldn't really prevent. It is that the scale was up to our interpretation meaning it wasn't persistent. Questions 1. How do you account for the differences in the rates? The reactions where the rate of reaction was a 4 had hydrogen peroxide involved in the reaction. This is because catalase and hydrogen peroxide were involved in the reaction. When catalase comes in contact with hydrogen peroxide, the hydrogen peroxide turns into water and oxygen gas. The foam is pure oxygen bubbles created by the catalase and since it is an enzyme, this reaction is done extremely efficiently (up to 200,000 reactions per second!). The potato and liver both contain catalase cells. the reactions where the rate of reaction were 0 was because there was no reactions that would occur from the reactants that were put into the test tubes. 2. Can H2O2 be broken down by catalysts other than those found in living systems? Explain your answer. Yes it can be. Hydrogen peroxide and be broken down by oxidization. Inorganic compounds such as ferric chloride and manganese dioxide can achieve this.

3. Describe the effect of