Enzyme Activity

Enzyme Activity

       When an enzyme, liquid liver, and a substrate, hydrogen peroxide, are mixed together, they produce oxygen.  This was something that we tested in an experiment we conducted.  We were to find the rate at which oxygen is produced in this reaction.  First, we poured hydrogen peroxide into a reaction chamber.  We dipped 4 dots of paper into enzymes and placed it in the chamber.  We had a basin filled with water, and we also filled a test tube with water.  We put the reaction chamber in the basin along with the test tube, so that any oxygen coming from the chamber floated up into the filled tube.  When 30 seconds pass, we would check the tube to see how much water is left in the it.  We continued this for 10 minutes, and by the end, we would be able to tell the rate of reaction based off the amount of water remaining.  We started our tube with 10 milliliters.  At the end of our experiment, there were 2 milliliters of water left.  

       However, our data isn't enough.  We need to know what results other lab groups got.  That way, we can we get an average of the reaction rate.  The action of the catalase remains the same during the reaction, but it is not necessarily a constant rate.