Catalase Reaction Paper

Results

Figure 1. Effect of temperature on the reaction rate between catalase and H2O2

Figure 1 shows that the optimum temperature for catalase to catalyze hydrogen peroxide is around room temperature (30℃) as it has a very fast reaction rate (5). The overall trend is that temperatures that differ from 30℃, will decrease the reaction rate.

Discussion

This experiment supported the hypothesis, since catalase was the most effective with hydrogen peroxide when it was in an environment with a temperature of 30℃. It was expected that an extreme temperature would decrease the rate of reaction and results observed support that idea. With reference to figure 1, the peak performance of catalase was at 30℃, which was the closest to its usual environment

The highest reaction rate during the lab was with a temperature of 30℃, which makes sense since catalase is found in the liver at a temperature of 37℃ (Buddies, 2012). The temperature of 30℃ was the closest to catalase’s normal temperature which is why it yielded the highest reaction rate. Therefore, in order for the body to discard the toxic hydrogen peroxide, the body must constantly maintain a temperature of 37℃ to prevent cell damage (Sciencing, 2018). At extreme temperatures, an enzyme’s activity will decrease because enzymes have a very narrow range in which they can effectively function. The results from the lab show that at 100℃, catalase has no reaction with hydrogen peroxide. This is due to the fact that 100℃ is much more extreme than its usual environment, meaning that the catalase became denatured. The very high temperature would have broken the intermolecular forces within catalase, thus changing the shape of catalase and not allowing it to react with its substrate hydrogen peroxide. At 0℃, there was a reaction rate of 3, meaning that it was slow. This is because the low temperature would have strengthened the intermolecular forces and stiffen the structure of the enzyme, making it harder for an induced fit with the substrate (Carter-Edwards et al.,

The lab results would have been more accurate if they were based off quantitative properties instead. For instance, if the reaction between catalase and hydrogen peroxide was timed using a stopwatch to see how long the oxygen gas bubbled for, the times could have been compared to obtain a more accurate reaction rate for each reaction. Furthermore, the temperature of the solution after the test tubes were taken out of their respective water baths were not monitored. This could have been a factor that affected the reaction rate of catalase, since the reactions may have not occurred at the same temperature. A thermometer could have been used to measure the temperature of the contents in the test tubes once they were removed from the water baths to ensure that all the reactions took place at the same temperature as the baths they were placed