catalase
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Biology Coursework
The Effect of Catalase
By Zara Kauffer 116
3482
Plan
I plan to investigate the effect of catalase on hydrogen peroxide.
Catalase is an enzyme; enzymes are protein molecule, which change the rate of reaction, they behave as biological catalysts. They speed up reactions but remain unchanged by the reaction. Enzymes help change a substrate into a product. Enzymes contain an "active site" part of the substrate molecule fits into this site like a key fitting in a lock. This enables bonds in the molecule to break.
Catalase has to be very fast acting to keep the hydrogen peroxide levels low, and it is one of the fastest acting enzymes known. It catalyses the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, liberating oxygen gas as effervescence, each molecule of the globular protein decomposing 40,000 molecules of hydrogen peroxide per second at zero degrees Celsius and capable of producing an amazing 1012 molecules of oxygen per second.
In this investigation, the variables that affect the activity of the enzyme, catalase, will be considered and controlled so that they would not disrupt the success of the experiment.
The shape of the enzyme molecule is affected by temperature...