Help requested on simple enzyme experiment

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around designing a simple enzyme experiment to investigate how pH affects enzyme activity, specifically using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as the substrate and catalase as the enzyme. Participants are sharing methods, considerations for experimental setup, and techniques for measuring reaction rates in a straightforward lab environment.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • One participant seeks assistance on a method to explore the effect of pH on enzyme activity using H2O2 and mentions keeping temperature and substrate concentration constant.
  • Another participant asks for clarification on the source of the enzyme and how the reaction rate will be measured, emphasizing the importance of stating the hypothesis.
  • A participant suggests including controls without enzyme addition, noting that pH might influence substrate concentration.
  • One participant confirms the use of catalase as the enzyme and expresses the need to measure the amount of water and oxygen produced during the reaction.
  • Another participant proposes capturing the oxygen gas produced for measurement and suggests that the experiment does not need to be extremely accurate for a school project.
  • A later reply questions the feasibility of measuring dissolved oxygen in the solution and mentions the use of DO meters as a potential method for measurement.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the experimental focus and the use of catalase and H2O2, but there are varying suggestions on measurement techniques and the need for hypothesis formulation. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the best method for measuring oxygen production and the specifics of the hypothesis.

Contextual Notes

Participants have not fully defined the hypothesis or the specific methods for measuring reaction rates, and there are assumptions about the experimental setup that have not been clarified.

Who May Find This Useful

Students or individuals interested in enzyme activity experiments, particularly those exploring the effects of pH on catalase and hydrogen peroxide reactions.

new&improovedfaisal
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Hello every 1
i'd like assistance regarding a simple enzyme experiment to see how Ph effects enzyme activity, does any 1 have a meathod which can help me carry out such an experiment. I'm going to use H202 as my substrate concentration. This experiment is going to be carried out in a simple lab so there's no need for complex apperatus. A few testubes will work fine.
The variables I'm keeping constant is
temperature & substrate concentration
your help would be appreciated
thank you
 
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What will you use as your source of enzyme? How do you plan to measure the reaction rate? I can tell from your description what your variable is, but can you state it so I'm sure you have the concepts right in your own mind? Also, state your hypothesis.

These are the questions you need to answer to start setting up the experiment.

I think it can be done, but it will be best if you work out planning it yourself, and we'll help jog your brain when you get stuck on part of the planning, or to help troubleshoot if it doesn't work the way you plan it.
 
new&improovedfaisal said:
Hello every 1
i'd like assistance regarding a simple enzyme experiment to see how Ph effects enzyme activity, does any 1 have a meathod which can help me carry out such an experiment. I'm going to use H202 as my substrate concentration. This experiment is going to be carried out in a simple lab so there's no need for complex apperatus. A few testubes will work fine.
The variables I'm keeping constant is
temperature & substrate concentration
your help would be appreciated
thank you

(Ph should be pH ... the negative log of H ions)

Please include controls wherein no enzyme is added. Concevably the pH itself (which is one of your variables) could affect substrate concentration.
 
well I'm investigating how ph affects Enzyme activity, The enzyme i'll b using is catalase, i'll be varying Ph all other factors such as temperature, substrate concentration, enzyme concentration will be kept the same through out the experiment.
From what iv read catalase acts on a substate known as H202 better known as hydrogen peroxide and breaks it down into h20+O2 i'll have to think of a way to meassure the amount of H20 +02 realeased could u please think of a technique that would help me?
 
new&improovedfaisal said:
well I'm investigating how ph affects Enzyme activity, The enzyme i'll b using is catalase, i'll be varying Ph all other factors such as temperature, substrate concentration, enzyme concentration will be kept the same through out the experiment.
From what iv read catalase acts on a substate known as H202 better known as hydrogen peroxide and breaks it down into h20+O2 i'll have to think of a way to meassure the amount of H20 +02 realeased could u please think of a technique that would help me?

Since oxygen is a gas, you would have to capture it to measure it (not let it just escape out the top of your tube). You might have to tinker a bit to find out what works best for the volume you're producing, but you could measure the volume released (I'm assuming this is for a school project, so you don't need to make this extremely accurate).

Now you still need to state your hypothesis. How do you expect pH to affect the reaction for the enzyme/substrate you're using?
 
If the oxygen is being created along with water in some sort of enzyme buffer solution, could you simply measure an increase (or decrease) in dissolved oxygen? DO meters were relatively common in the labs I worked through in high school and college, perhaps they would be sensitive enough?

OK, a quick search revealed that http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/jsac/analsci/pdfs/a20_0471.pdf 2. If that first link doesn't work for you, let me know and I can give you a summary.
 
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