Enzymes and Catalysts

We found that generally as the catecholase concentration increased, the rate of reaction would also increase. Our results did not perfectly match those of the example in figure 4-6, because our rate of reaction for Sample C was a little off. We believe that errors may have occurred due to the fact that there was a dried smear on the vial for Sample C that we were unable to clean off.

Table 4-5 Substrate Concentration and Enzyme Activity

We found that generally the rate of reaction increased as the substrate concentration increased.. Unfortunately, our results did not match the expected results shown in figure 4-7 since sample F, the one with 24 drops of the reagent, was lower than expected. We believe this was due to human error. We may have not added exactly 24 drops or properly wiped the vial containing the substances.

Table 4-7 Absorbance data for the effect of temperature on enzyme activity

We found that the optimal temperature was room temperature. The reaction time was the very highest when the substance was at room temperature. Once the temperature was higher than room temperature, the enzyme began to denature and the reaction rate began to decrease drastically.

Table 4-10 Effect of pH on enzyme activity

We found that the optimal pH was the neutral pH of 7. The rate of reaction was lower in the substances in a lower or a higher pH than that. This was due to the fact that the enzyme began to denature in the extreme pH levels.