Peroxidase Enzyme Lab Cold V.S Hot

Peroxidase Enzyme Lab by Mason Mowery

Introduction:

Enzymes are proteins made up of amino acids that are catalysts in reactions inside and outside of almost every living organism, and are activated by substates like hydrogen peroxide. They help our body in many ways including our immune system and digestive system. In the immune system enzymes alter toxins into harmless substances, and enzymes in the digestive system brake down giving us a good source of protein. Our experiment is taking place to find the optimum temperature for enzymes to react.

Hypothesis: If the temperature of an enzyme is increased then the more effective it will be at decomposing hydrogen peroxide.

Materials

• 5 to 10 grams of freshly picked bindweed vines with leaves (about 1 handful)
• Mortar and pestle
• Distilled water
• 3 100-liter glass or plastic beakers
• 1 mL or 5 mL syringe
• Hydrogen peroxide
• 1 Paper towel square (for filtration)
• Glass test tubes
• Test tube rack or holder
• Small plastic ruler
• Safety glasses
• Ice
• Large plastic beaker (for ice bath)
• Hot water
• Large plastic beaker (for hot water bath)
• Thermometers
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Procedure
  
  
  
  
  1st: Gather Materials
  2nd: Refer to lab set up
  3rd: Crush bindweed
  4th: Measure 20 ml of hydrogen peroxide
  5th;Tape test tube to ruler ( cm side ) sd
  6th:put 1.cc (1.5cm) bindweed in the test tube
  7th: put 1.cc (1.5cm) peroxide in a seprete test tube
  8th: put test tubes in varying celsius for 2 min
  9th:time the reaction time to 2 min
  10th:record data in a bar graph
  11th:write a conclusion
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  (test tube)(degrees Celsius)(hight in centimeters)(hight reaction)(avrage)

  1st	50 deg C	1.6 cent	49.48 sec	av .0323
  2nd	25 deg C	4.4 cent	2:45.80 sec	av .0265
  3rd	20 deg C	.5 cent	67 sec	av .00756
  4th	1 deg C	.7 cent	80 sec	av  .00875

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Conclusions:

  
  
  Our enzyme lab began with a rocky start. We could not find the bindweed, we had very little thought in which direction to take the lab, and we had to remake and re-collect any supplies that we had originally collected. Once able to collect the supplies I was capable of preparing the solutions of bindweed and hydrogen peroxide. Each solution was 1cc or 1.5cm tall in the test tubes. After finalizing the set up of solutions I observed the thickness of the bindweed set up and inferred that the extra substance is from the exposed enzymes. I did note that when we poured the hydrogen peroxide into the test tubes the glass formed for a second due to lack of previous cleaning. This could have had an effect on the reaction that occurred in the test tube because a portion of the peroxide had already reacted to something else. Our final preparation consisted of gathering a timer  and the temperature controlled boxes. The separate boxes temperatures consisted of 50 25 20, and 1 degree(s) celsius.
  
  The first test ran two times due to a spillage and a lack of communication, but the second time ran a lot smoother.  The water in the first chamber was 50 degrees celsius, which was a notable difference to the cold morning air that filled the room. I noticed that the moment the two test tubes hit the water, the glass foged up. After waiting two minutes for the substances to reach 50’ celcius we pulled the test tubes out, and pourd the peroxide into the enzyme. After the peroxide settled, bubbles reached up to 1.6 cm higher than the liquid mixture, and stayed in that spot for a few seconds before receading. The next test tube was in a controlled enviornment of 25 degrees celcius for two minutes. These test tubes also fogged up but at a slower rate. This gave me the impression that the reaction time of the enzymes would be slower, but I was wrong. It actually took  2:45.80 seconds to reach its maximum bubble hight of 4.4cm more than the solutions hight. Amazeingly enough no discoloration was found in the solution after or during the reaction.
  
  
  The last two tests were run at 20C and 1C. The 20C test was the room temperature at the 
  time and it only gave me the increase of .5cent which is odd due to the fact that its not that far of from 25C. The final test as expected was low .7 increase, but oddly it had a higher increase than room temperature. From my experiment I have learned that my hypothesis was correct because the higher temperature got the most increase. Altho it was a good lab we should have spent more time as a whole to figure out problems and even solve the mystery of the room temperature test. I also should have cleaned the equipment before use, but in a whole we did good.