Investigating the Speed of Reaction Between Hydrogen Peroxide and a Potato
To find what will increase the speed of the reaction between Hydrogen
peroxide and a potato, with the enzyme catalase, to produce oxygen and
water.
Variables:
* Changing the surface area of the potato
* Changing the heat in which the reaction takes place in
* Changing the concentration of the acid
* Changing the size of the potato chunks
* Changing the amount of potato
* Changing the PH level
I will be testing in my preliminary experiment these variables:
Changing the surface area of the potato and Changing the heat the
reaction takes place in.
The first variable (The surface area of the potato):
For this experiment cut a potato into fifteen equal pieces. Making
sure the pieces are all the same size take. Place one piece into a
beaker that has 10ml of hydrogen peroxide in it. When the piece of
potato is in the acid start the timer. Stop the timer when there is no
more froth coming off the potato. Repeat this with another piece of
potato but this time cut it into two pieces then three, four and five.
How many pieces of potato
=========================
Time in minutes
1
5.17
2
4.26
3
3.25
4
3.09
5
2.24
The results show that the more surface area the potato has then the
faster the reaction takes place. This is because, the more surface
area there is the more molecules can collide with the potato at the
same time so the faster the reaction will take place.
When I was doing this experiment with the first piece of potato that
was 2cm by 2cm I found that the reaction took a very long time and
meant that I could not get all of my results. With this in mind I cut