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Lab Report: Catecholase

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In this lab we experimented with pH, spectrophotometry, and enzymes like catecholase. We used spectrophotometry to detect how enzyme activity would change under different pH, temperature, enzyme concentration, and substrate concentration. Enzymes are important for biochemical reactions because they speed up the process and allow the organism to continue living. The enzyme used in the experiment is catecholase and it catalyzes a reaction between catechol and water. We analyzed the samples in the spectrophotometry and it is measured by absorbance and transmittance and this will allow us to see which sample will have the largest concentration of molecules. The first experiment involved enzyme concentration and enzyme activity; in this experiment …show more content…

We increased the substrate, catechol, while maintaining the enzyme, catecholase, at the same volume. We came to the hypothesis that if the substrate was increased, then the rate of reaction would increase as long as there is enzymes to react with. The third experiment involved how temperature would affect enzyme activity. This was done by placing certain vials in certain temperatures and then analyzing the data in the spectrophotometer. We came to the hypothesis that if the temperature was increased, then the reaction rate would increase until it reaches the optimal temperature after that the reaction rate would decrease. This is because the enzyme will start to denature if the temperatures get too high or too low. The fourth experiment deals with how pH affects enzyme activity. For this experiment different vials with catecholase and different pH’s were observed under a spectrophotometer to see how the enzyme would be affected. We found our hypothesis to be, if pH is raised, then the reaction rate will increase until it reaches the optimal pH. The reaction rate will increase until the optimal pH because after the optimal pH, the enzyme will start to denature and not function as it

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