Investigating enzyme activity

• effect of pH

  • add buffer solution with a different pH level to different tubes containing enzyme-substrate mixture
  • Vary initial concentration of substrate to investigate substrate concentration
  • Vary initial concentration of enzyme to investigate the effect of enzyme concentration
• Measure how fast a product appears

  • Catalase catalyses the break down of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen
  • collect oxygen and measure how much is produced in set time
  • use pipette to add a set amount of hydrogen peroxide to boiling tube
  • Put the tube in water bath at 10 degrees
  • Add catalase
• Measure how fast a substrate disappears

  • amylase catalysis starch to maltose
  • Detect starch using iodine solution
  • Put solution (amylase enzyme and starch) into water bath
  • Drop mixture via pipette on spotting tiles every 10 seconds on different concentrations of iodine solution
  • till iodine remains browny orange
  • repeat at different temperatures to see how it affects the time taken