Catalase is an enzyme tound in many plant and animal cells it catalyses the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen, hydrogen peroxide Wien 2 In an investigation into the action of catalase in potato, 20qar potato vise was put into a small beaker containing hydrogen peroxide weighing 80 gr total. The temperature was maintains at 20-C taroughout the investigatsen A5 2001 as the polalo was added the mass of the beaker and its contents Wus mereced until there was no lore change in maissan shown in the gran soudu 5 na termine hudodh mum. | How much oxygen was formed in this investigation? Explain your answer. Estimate the time by which hall this mass of oxygen had been tommad 12) Ih Explain, in terms of collisions between ene and substrate molecules why the rate of reaction changes during the course of the investigation 12) b The students repeated the investigation at 30°C. What difference, if any, would you expert in the mass of oxygen formad? the time taken to form this mass of oxygan.
Answers
Answer:
When the enzyme catalase comes into contact with its substrate, hydrogen peroxide, it starts breaking it down into water and oxygen. Oxygen is a gas and therefore wants to escape the liquid.
Explanation:
All living things possess catalysts, or substances within them that speed up chemical reactions and processes. Enzymes are molecules that enable the chemical reactions that occur in all living things on earth. In this catalase and hydrogen peroxide experiment, we will discover how enzymes act as catalysts by causing chemical reactions to occur more quickly within living things. Using a potato and hydrogen peroxide, we can observe how enzymes like catalase work to perform decomposition, or the breaking down, of other substances. Catalase works to speed up the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into oxygen and water. We will also test how this process is affected by changes in the temperature of the potato. Is the process faster or slower when compared to the control experiment conducted at room temperature?
Problem
What happens when a potato is combined with hydrogen peroxide?
Materials
1 Potato
Hydrogen peroxide
Small glass beaker or cup
Procedure
Divide the potato into three roughly equal sections.
Keep one section raw and at room temperature.
Place another section in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
Boil the last section for at least 5 minutes.
Chop and mash a small sample (about a tablespoon) of the room temperature potato and place into beaker or cup.
Pour enough hydrogen peroxide into the cup so that potato is submerged and observe.
Repeat steps 5 & 6 with the boiled and frozen potato sections.
Observations & Results
Watch each of the potato/hydrogen peroxide mixtures and record what happens. The bubbling reaction you see is the metabolic process of decomposition, described earlier. This reaction is caused by catalase, an enzyme within the potato. You are observing catalase breaking hydrogen peroxide into oxygen and water. Which potato sample decomposed the most hydrogen peroxide? Which one reacted the least?
Why?
You should have noticed that the boiled potato produced little to no bubbles. This is because the heat degraded the catalase enzyme, making it incapable of processing the hydrogen peroxide. The frozen potato should have produced fewer bubbles than the room temperature sample because the cold temperature slowed the catalase enzyme’s ability to decompose the hydrogen peroxide. The room temperature potato produced the most bubbles because catalase works best at a room temperature.
Conclusions
Catalase acts as the catalyzing enzyme in the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. Nearly all living things possess catalase, including us! This enzyme, like many others, aids in the decomposition of one substance into another. Catalase decomposes, or breaks down, hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen.
Want to take a closer look? Go further in this experiment by looking at a very small sample of potato combined with hydrogen peroxide under a microscope!