APU International School Biology Lab Report

Mr. Bill Pham | Fall 2016

14 October 2016

EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON
ENZYME ACTIVITY
Harry: lengocbaochan@gmail.com
Honor Code: On my honor, I have neither received nor given any unauthorized aid
on this assignment.
Lab partner:
Noah: blackdragon1760@gmail.com
Titan: lamct12345@gmail.com
Kha: baokha123@gmail.com
Source: http://www.livescience.com/45145how-do-enzymes-work.html

Enzyme
Source: http://marcosbiology.weebly.com/enzymes-and-dna.html

EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON ENZYME

ACTIVITY
Introduction:
1.Enzymes are proteins that act as biological catalysts. They speed up the chemical
reaction in your body so that these reactions would not take place too slowly to keep
you alive. By increasing the rate of chemical reactions, enzymes cause chemical
reactions which can take years to take place within several seconds.
Quoting https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK9921/, Enzymes accelerate the
rates of such reactions by well over a million-fold, so reactions that would take years
in the absence of catalysis can occur in fractions of seconds if catalyzed by the
appropriate enzyme.
3.There are 5 factors that affect enzyme activities: temperature, pH, concentration of
enzyme, concentration of substrate, and the presence of inhibitors or activators.
4.The purpose of this experiment is to investigate the effect of temperature on
enzyme activities. When temperature increases, more molecules have kinetic energy
to react, so the enzyme activities and the rate of the reaction becomes faster. Also, if
the temperature decreases, the energy will be lessened, and the reaction will be
slowed.
5.Quoting http://www.hepatitis.va.gov/patient/basics/liver-enzymes.asp,Enzymes
are proteins found in your body that speed up certain chemical reactions. Liver
enzymes perform these jobs within the liver. Two of the common ones are known as
"AST" and "ALT." (AST: Aspartate aminotransferase, ALT: Alanine
aminotransferase)
Hydrogen peroxide can be produced in many ways, but the most common way to
produce a hydrogen peroxide solution involve reactions of oxygen with isopropyl
alcohol and anthraquinone. Hydrogen peroxide is very harmful to your body because
of its corrosivity. A hydrogen peroxide solution with more than 8% of H2O2 is
corrosive to your skin.
Livers enzyme breaks down hydrogen peroxide into oxygen and water
Equation: 2H2O2 H2O + O2
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6. Hypothesis: the higher the temperature is, the faster the reaction occurs. The lower
the temperature is, the slower the reaction takes place.

Materials:
Gloves
Goggles
Lab coat
Liver
Ice bath (above 5oC)
Hot water bath (below 40oC)
3 Thermometers
9 Filter paper
Forceps
Scissors
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)
Petri dishes
50 ml beakers
Clock or watch with second hand

Preparation:
Put the liver into 3 different dishes. Put one of them into the ice bath, one into the hot
water bath and the left one in room temperature.
Cut the filter paper into small circles.
Fill the beaker with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).

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Procedure:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Make a data table in your lab notebook.

Use the thermometer to record the temperature of each liver in each dish.
Then, use the forceps to pick up 3 filter papers and put them into 3 dishes.
Take the filter papers out and push it to the bottom of the beaker which
contains hydrogen peroxide solution. At the same time, start to count the time
by using your watch or clock.
5. Fill in your data table and repeat the experiment two more times.

Data & Result:

1.Data Table:
Trial
RT 1
RT 2
RT 3
Average

Temp (oC)

Time (sec)
26
26
26
26

9
8
5
7.33

Cold 1
Cold 2
Cold 3
Average

9
10
10
9.67

5
12
8
8.33

Hot 1
Hot 2
Hot 3
Average

30
30
30
30

5
7
6
6.00

9.67
26
30

8.33
7.33
6.00

Cold (Average)
RT (Average)
Hot (Average)

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2.Graph of My Data:

Effect of Temperature On Enzyme Activity

9.00
8.00
7.00

Time (sec)

6.00
5.00
4.00

Series1

3.00
2.00
1.00
0.00
0.00

5.00

10.00

15.00

20.00

Temperature

25.00

30.00

35.00

(oC)

3. Observation of the reaction

With a high temperature, the reaction occurs faster than the one in room temperature
and low temperature. The reaction produces more bubbles and the filter papers float
up much faster.
With a low temperature, the reaction occurs slower than the one in room temperature
and high temperature. The reaction produces fewer bubbles and the filter papers float
up slower.

Discussion:
1. The trend of my graph is downward. Graphing the data will make the
information easier to visualize. The graph of the data show patterns and trends,
which is not showed on tables, and that will help us to analyze the data easier
than just looking at the data tables alone.
2. The graph supports my hypothesis because it shows that the higher the
temperature is, the less the time for the reaction to take place is due to the
trend.
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3. An experimental error that could affect your results is that when you put the
filter paper with liver on it into the hydrogen peroxide solution, remember to
push it to the bottom of the beaker and then, leave it alone. Dont try to keep
pushing the filter paper for minutes.
4. Repeating the experiment will make the result more believable. If you do an
experiment just once, you can get an anomalous result. Doing it many times
will help you to recognize your mistake in the experiment if there is a huge
different between results.
5. We have to take the average of these trials for each testing conditions to
prevent biases. Taking the average will make it more accurate to calculate
with.

Research Questions:
1.Quoting LiveScience,Some enzymes help break large molecules into smaller
pieces that are more easily absorbed by the body. Other enzymes help bind two
molecules together to produce a new molecule. Enzymes are highly selective
catalysts, meaning that each enzyme only speeds up a specific reaction.
The molecules that an enzyme works with are called substrates. The substrates bind
to a region of the enzyme called the active site.
There are two theories explaining the enzyme-substrate interaction.
In the lock-and-key model, the active site of an enzyme is precisely shaped to hold
specific substrates. In the induced-fit model, the active site and substrate don't fit
perfectly together; instead, they both alter their shape to connect.
Whatever the case, the reactions that occur accelerate greatly over a millionfold
once the substrates bind to the active site of the enzyme. The chemical reactions
result in a new product or molecule that then separates from the enzyme, which goes
on to catalyze other reactions.
The enzyme- substrate complex lowers the activation energy of the reaction and
provides certain ions or chemical groups that form covalent bonds with molecules,
which promotes its rapid progression.
2. A change in pH can denature the enzymes. Each enzyme has an optimal pH range
that they work at, if the pH is higher or lower than the range, it will change the
enzymes shape. Think of the enzyme as a lock and the substrate as a key, when the
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lock changes its shape, the key is no longer fit in the lock. Since the substrate can not
fit in the active site of the enzyme, the enzymes become useless.

Reflection:
After this experiment, I have learned about how to make a data table and graph the
data. I love the part which we push the filter paper with liver on it to the bottom of
the beaker which contains hydrogen peroxide solution and then, see it float up to the
surface. I was really excited about this part.Using forceps to pick up filter papers and
put them into liver dishes is also very interesting. This experiment is doable since it is
easy to follow the teachers instruction.
I think my group was organized and work collaboratively. Each person has a job to
do and no one is free. However, when doing the experiment, there still are some
mistakes in the order of each members job in the group, such as when we are
working together, Titan and I both get the job which is bringing the hydrogen
peroxide solution and we got one extra beaker of solution. The next time, we will
create a prelab report and divide the jobs before doing the experiment.

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Citation:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK9921/
http://www.hepatitis.va.gov/patient/basics/liver-enzymes.asp
http://www.livescience.com/45145-how-do-enzymes-work.html

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