Catalase Lab

by **Buddah** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 4:09 am

Introduction
Enzymes function as biological catalysts, substances that speed up chemical reactions. Chemically, enzymes are proteins and their three-dimensional shape is important to their catalytic activity. Enzymes are highly specific in terms of the reactions they will catalyze. This means that literally hundreds of different enzymes are required to catalyze the many different reactions which take place in your body each day. Enzyme activity is influenced by numerous factors. Several of these factors will be examined in this lab. In these investigations, you will be using catalase, an enzyme whose occurrence is widespread in cells, particularly in liver cells. You will extract catalase from fresh beef liver for use in this lab. The breakdown of hydrogen peroxide, H2O2, is speeded up by catalase. The decomposition of hydrogen peroxide occurs as follows:

2H2O2 ? 2 H2O + O2
Catalase functions to speed the breakdown of peroxides which may form during respiration. This breakdown prevents the peroxide from causing unwanted oxidation of important biomolecules.
In these investigations, you will combine catalase and H2O2 under various conditions of enzyme and substrate concentration, pH, ionic concentration, and temperature. Measurements of the pressure of O2 released during these reactions will enable you to compare the activity of this enzyme under these varied conditions. This should lead you to some generalizations about enzyme activity and factors which control it.

I need a very good insightful hypothesis, with regards to all conditions: ph, substrate concentration, ionic concentration and temp