catalase enzyme reasearch

catalase enzyme reasearch

Biology: Catalase Enzyme Lab
Science Research Summary

In this experiment we tried to find out what is the difference in reaction time between a test tube with catalase present and a test tube with no catalase present. The variables in the experiment were the pigs liver as an independent variable which was the source of catalase, the dependant variable was the time it took for a reaction, and the substrate used, hydrogen peroxide as the constant variable. As we learned in class, enzymes are used by the body to breakdown poisonous substances into harmless parts, which is why I say that the test tube with catalase, the enzyme, will have a faster reaction to hydrogen peroxide, the substrate, while the test tube without catalase will take longer to react.
During the experiment we used two test tubes, two pieces of the same liver, a stop watch, and equal amounts of hydrogen peroxide. To find an answer to the question we placed a piece of liver in a test tube and left the other test tube empty. We then placed equal amounts of hydrogen peroxide in each tube, and then measured the time it took for a reaction to occur. We did this twice in order to further investigate and strengthen our results. We kept one tube empty as a control so that we could be sure that nothing in the test tubes was reacting with the hydrogen peroxide, this further strengthened our results.  
After we ran through the experiment the two times, our final results were determined when the hydrogen peroxide began to bubble. The reason we looked for bubbles was that the enzyme would breakdown the hydrogen peroxide into both water and oxygen, the result of this is bubbles. Since the test tube without the catalase never bubbled then it proves that nothing else was reacting with the hydrogen peroxide thus when the catalase reacted we could be sure it was the catalase not any other thing.
In the end the difference in reaction time between a test tube with and a test tube without catalase was that...