Lani Chung Period 2B September 13, 2011

Toothpickase Lab
Part A: Rate of Product Formation in an Enzyme-Facilitated Reaction: 4. Graph the results.
Rate of Product Formation in an Enzyme-Facilitated Reaction 80 80 80 79 77 70 62 60 49 56

80 80

80

Number of Toothpicks Catalyzed

40 29 19 10

39

20

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300 Time in Seconds

5. Calculate the rate of enzyme action in toothpicks per second for each 60 second interval: How many toothpicks were broken after 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, etc. For the first interval about 0.48 toothpicks were broken per second, in the second interval about 0.45 toothpicks were broken per second, in the third interval about 0.35 toothpicks were broken per second, in the fourth interval about 0.05 toothpicks were broken per second, and in the last interval no toothpicks were broken because all 80 toothpicks were already broken. After one minute 29 toothpicks were broken, after two minutes 56 toothpicks were broken, after three minutes 77 toothpicks were broken, after four minutes 80 toothpicks were broken, and after five minutes 80 toothpicks were broken. 6. Discuss your results under the graph. Explain what happens to the rate and summarize enzyme activity. Our results showed that enzyme activity steadily increased about 10 toothpicks for every 20 second interval until in neared about 200 seconds because there werent enough toothpicks left to catalyze. Therefore, the rate stopped increasing and stayed at 80 toothpicks from the 220 second mark to the 300 second mark since

all toothpicks were already catalyzed. This means that enzyme activity will steadily increase over time until it runs out of substrates to catalyze and has a stabilized rate of increase. Part B: Effect of Substrate Concentration on Reaction Rate: 4. Graph the results.

Effect of Substrate Concentration on Reaction Rate 12 11 10 10 9 8 8 8 8 7 10

Number of Toothpicks Catalyzed (In 20 Second Intervals)

7 6

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Number of Toothpicks

5. Discuss your results and explain why the rates were different at different concentrations. Summarize the effect of substrate concentration on enzyme action. For the first six trials, I saw a steady increase in the rate of enzyme activity. But in the next trials, the rate jumped up and down from 10 to 8 to 11 to 7 to 10. Although my results showed consistency in the beginning, it was inconsistent towards the last trials. The rates were different at different concentrations because the toothpickase person generally had a harder time finding toothpicks when there was a low concentration of toothpicks while they had an easier time finding toothpicks when there was a high concentration of toothpicks. This is because when there is a high ratio or concentration of toothpicks mixed in with the twist ties, there is a higher probably that you would find a toothpick and vice versa. Because of this, when substrate concentration is high, is may cause enzyme action to increase while low substrate concentrations might cause enzyme action to decrease.

Part C: Effect of Temperature Substrate Concentration on Reaction Rate: 3. Calculate the rate of enzyme action in toothpicks per second. Compare the two rates. The rate of enzyme action for hands in iced water was about 0.36 toothpicks per second while the rate of enzyme action for hands that werent in iced water was about 0.48 toothpicks per second. The rate for hands in iced water was a little lower than that of the hands not in iced water, showing that the hands that werent in iced water performed faster. 4. Discuss your results and explain why the rates were different at different temperatures. Summarize the effect of temperature on enzyme action. My results showed that hands placed in iced water could break 10 toothpicks in 28 seconds while hands not placed in iced water could break 10 toothpicks in 21 seconds. Because hands that are placed in iced water lose feeling and are often very painful, it is harder to do a task than using hands not affected by the cold. This is why the rates were different at different temperatures. This also goes for enzyme action because if an enzyme is not at its optimum temperature, it cannot perform as well as it could if it were in an ideal temperature. In this case, the cold would slow down the molecules, cause less collisions, and as a result cause less reactions. a) Explain what would happen to an enzyme-facilitated reaction if temperature were increased. Be sure to include the effect if temperature were increased to 100 degrees Celsius. If the temperature in an enzyme-facilitated reaction increased, the enzymes might be able to react more often and perform faster because heat makes molecules more faster, causing more collisions and reactions. However if the temperature reached 100 degrees Celsius, it is quite possible that the enzyme wouldnt be able to handle the heat. This could cause the enzyme to lose its shape and get denatured, making it lose its ability to work. b) What is the optimal temperature (degrees Celsius) for enzymes in the human body? The optimal temperature for enzymes in the human body is 37 degrees Celsius or 96.8 degrees Fahrenheit which is body temperature.