Introduction
Enzymes are proteins that carry out chemical reactions. They are catalysts within living organisms and regulate the rate at which a chemical reaction is carried out. Enzymes range in their functions throughout living organisms; however metabolic enzymes are found in all cells of the body. Enzymes are essential to the breakdown of lipids, carbohydrates, proteins and other molecules in the cell. There are three types of enzymes that affect the location and function of the enzyme. Enzymes specifically act as a catalyst, which is a chemical agent that is used to speed up the reaction without being used up. Temperature has an effect on both the structure of the catalase itself and the hydrogen bonds it is designed to cleave. As the temperature increases toward the optimum point, hydrogen bonds loosen, making it easier for catalase to act on hydrogen peroxide molecules.
This experiment will specifically investigate the effect of temperature on the duration of the reaction. In this experiment, the production of O2 gas will determine the duration of the reaction.…
