Enzyme Lab Report

Enzymes are the most important type of protein that regulate metabolism because they act as catalysts. Catalysts speed up chemical reactions without being consumed in the reaction itself. These molecules keep cells running and carry out the processes of life, because they can react over and over again. Chemical reactions need energy in order to change the bonds in the reactant and get the reaction going. This energy is called activation energy, and in most cases the activation energy is too high for the reaction to occur spontaneously. One solution to overcome the activation energy in cells would be to add heat, but if too much heat is added it could cause denature the proteins, therefore killing the cells. Adding heat would also increase

What occurs in the active site, is when the substrate goes into the active site it changes the shape of the enzyme, making it a better fit that is needed to help it react. Each enzyme has its own optimal conditions that it works the best in. Temperature and pH are the most important factors to up the activity of an enzyme. Most enzymes in a human have an optimal temperature close to the body’s temperature, so around 35-40 ºC. These temperatures speed up the reaction rate the highest, but if increased too high will denature. The optimal pH for most enzymes is a pH of 6-8. A pH of 7 is neutral, less than 7 is acidic and greater than 7 is basic, so the optimal pH strays closely to neutral. Too acidic of an environment will denature most enzymes (except pepsin which works best at pH around

There was less than a one second difference between the Concentrations 2, 3, and 4. However the difference from Concentration 1 and 2 was above ten seconds. This shows that the higher the concentration, the faster the reaction time. The more tablespoons of catalase added the faster the reaction, but after the first one it began to increase at a smaller rate. Although it was increasing at a lower rate, it still increased, proving that the higher the concentration the faster the reaction rate. Using our data for temperature, the optimal temperature was the hot catalase which was at 37 ºC. This temperature is close to the body’s temperature which is the optimal temperature for an enzyme.This shows that the hotter the catalase, the faster the reaction occurs at. However if too hot, it can denature and render useless. The hot catalase was about three times faster than the room temperature and cold catalase. The cold was only slightly slower than the room temperature, but it was still slower, showing that the colder the temperature is the slower the