Enzyme Lab Finished product

Enzyme Lab Report

The essential question for our entire experiment is: how do abiotic or biotic factors influence the rates of enzymatic reaction? Throughout this experiment we started to discover the answer.They can affect how fast the reaction goes and the time that the process is over.

In this experiment we investigated the effect of environmental factors on the enzymes reaction, process, and speed.  The specific environmental factor we tested was enzyme concentration. Our team decided to experiment on how fast or slow a reactions process would be if we fluctuated the number of enzymes in the process itself.  An enzyme makes the reaction time speed up by lowering activation energy.

Our Materials Included:

• A handful of freshly picked grass blades
• Digital balance (scale)
• Mortar and pestle
• Tap water
• 3 100-liter glass or plastic beakers
• 1 mL syringe
• Hydrogen peroxide
• Glass test tubes
• Test tube rack
• Safety glasses

Our hypothesis was: Adding more enzymes will increase enzyme concentration and speed up the reaction process. Which means the more peroxide you add, the faster the reaction will be.
Our independent variable was the amount of enzymes in the experiment. Our dependent variable was the speed of the reaction, while the controlled variable was the actual reaction. The reason we choose this hypothesis because the enzyme’s job is to speed up the reaction, therefore the more you add, the faster it goes.

Procedure:

1. Take a handful of grass from plant area
2. Mash up small portion of grass
3. Use syringe to pour 2 mL of water into grass mixture
4. Pour into test tube
5. Get same amount of grass and mash up again
6. Use syringe to put 1.5mL of water
7. Pour into Test tube
8. Add  .5 mL of peroxide
9. Take same amount of grass
10. Mash up the grass again
11. Use syringe to put 1 mL of water
12. Pour into test tube
13. Add 1 mL of Peroxide
14. Repeat steps 9 and 10
15. Use syringe to measure and put .5 mL of water
16. Mash it up
17. Pour liquid into test tube
18. Put 1.5 mL of peroxide
19. Watch it fizz
20. Repeat step 14
21. Pour whatever you have after mashing up into test tube
22. Use syringe to measure and pour 2 mL of peroxide into test tube

Our team decided to focus on enzyme concentration. Our hypothesis was that the more peroxide you add, the faster the reaction will go. To test this out, we mashed up grass found outside and continuously added or subtracted .5 mL from water and peroxide. We started with 2 milliliters of water and no peroxide. Then, we subtracted .5 mL of water and added .5 mL of peroxide. Our group continued this pattern through this entire experiment until we reached 2 mL of peroxide and no water. At that point, having all peroxide and no water was the same as having no peroxide and all water. That meant no reactions. In the end, out hypothesis was not completely true. You could add more peroxide all you want, but it really does depend on your other variables, such as water, just as much as it would depend on peroxide.

Data and Results

Conclusions:

Our hypothesis was incorrect. The more ph we added, didn't necessarily mean that our enzyme reaction would speed up. We added ph until it's maximum point, then the reaction itself started to decline in the amount of fizz produced. Eventually, the amount of pH added greatly outbalanced the amount of water to the point where there was no reaction due to the lack of water. The best reaction happened when there was exactly 1 mL of water and 1 mL of peroxide. It created the fastest and biggest reaction due to the balance of water of peroxide added into.

Despite how well this experiment went, we ran into a few difficulties. This experiment required exact measurements, patience, and stability (mentally and physically). For the patience, the grinding of the grass in water mixture became increasingly harder the more peroxide you added. As for the stability, it required extreme focus to make sure you did not mess up, as well as physical because your hand must stay stable when pouring water into grass mixture, and pouring mixture into test tube. Finally, the common problem we ran into was making tiny mistakes that led to having to re-run the trial.