Factors Affecting the Rate of Enzyme activity

Enzymes are efficient proteins which play a part in cellular metabolic processes. Enzymes have the ability to improve the rate of reactions among living organisms. (Phillips, 2009) Although they work as a part of the reaction, they do not go through lasting alterations and therefore remain unchanged by the end of the reaction. They can only alter the rate of reaction. (Royal Society of Chemistry) Enzyme activity was first studied in a test tube in 1833 by Payen and Persoz.

Temperature, pH, enzyme concentration, substrate concentration, as well as the presence of any inhibitors or activators are all factors which affect the rate at which enzymatic reactions occur. (Worthington, 1972) The three dimensional shapes, particularly the tertiary and quaternary configurations of enzymes also affect their action.

Cells of living organisms such as beef or chicken liver, yeast and potatoes contain the enzyme catalase which will be investigated in this lab. Specifically, this lab works with beef liver extract. Since hydrogen peroxide is a poison to cells, the enzyme found in beef liver destroys it. The equation for the disintegration of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen is:

Catalase

2 H2O2 (aq) → 2 H2O2 (l) + O2 (g)

In this lab, the hydrogen peroxide will act as the substrate to the beef liver catalase solution. The rate at which oxygen gas is evolved will be measured to determine the rate at which the enzyme is working. This lab utilizes various elements such as varying temperature, state and concentration to demonstrate how changes can affect the rate of activity. The change in catalase concentration should affect the enzyme rate by increasing as the concentrat...

... middle of paper ...

...le error was Group A. The results were much higher than all of the rest, yet they were in good ratio to each other. This was most likely a timing issue.

For the most part, the results seem to be pretty accurate with the original hypothesises from the beginning. It was originally predicted that the enzyme activity would increase as concentration increased. This was evident. It was also revealed that temperature does affect catalase activity and oxygen production which was also envisaged before the experiments took place.

To conclude, the experiments examining different factors affecting enzyme activity clearly demonstrate a close relationship between enzymes and their specificity. When elements such as concentration, temperature and state are tampered with, the activity is definitely affected. The hypothesis made was very close to the results which were attained.