Decomposition of Hydrogen Peroxide

Degradation of Hydrogen Peroxide Purpose: The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the effect of changing the concentration of substance (hydrogen peroxide) in the enzyme controlled reaction. Prediction: As the amount of hydrogen peroxide used is larger, the substitution reaction is predicted to be faster. Therefore, the smaller the substrate used, the slower the substitution reaction. Hypothesis: Preliminary experiments were conducted to distinguish the amount of yeast used for actual experiments.

Hydrogen peroxide decomposition rate analysis using catalase as a catalyst Objective: The rate at which catalase decomposes hydrogen peroxide in yeast solution is determined using pH as a variable. Hypothesis: Catalase promotes decomposition of hydrogen peroxide because its active site is consistent with the shape of hydrogen peroxide molecule. This process only works at certain pH levels, as enzyme sites can deform under extreme conditions. - Effect of different concentrations of substrate on enzyme Introduction: Enzymes are biocatalysts. They are usually large proteins consisting of hundreds of amino acids. Enzymes catalyze thousands of chemical reactions occurring in living cells. Because enzymes are highly specific, each enzyme can only accelerate a specific chemical reaction

In this experiment, we investigate the influence of different concentrations of enzyme catalase on the decomposition rate of hydrogen peroxide. Typically, hydrogen peroxide is naturally produced in humans or plant cells. Hydrogen peroxide is a by-product of breathing. As an oxidizing agent it decomposes to form oxygen and water. The chemical formula for the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide is 2H 2 O 2 → 2H 2 O + O 2. The reaction is accelerated by the presence of an enzyme which is a catalase used in this experiment. This mechanism is of particular importance in biological cells and in vivo systems. This is because the corrosive nature of hydrogen peroxide can damage the liver wall, whereas on the liver wall it is produced in large quantities during cellular respiration. When it is present at high concentration, it is an unstable and dangerous aggressive oxidizing agent as it can corrode many substances including human skin.