Enzyme Lab Report Essay

Enzymes are generally protein macromolecules that act as catalysts in metabolic reactions. A catalyst is a chemical agent that speeds up a reaction without being consumed by the reaction. Enzymes speed up metabolic reaction rates by lowering the activation energy barrier, which is the amount of energy initially needed to spark a reaction. It allows reactant molecules to absorb enough energy to break bonds and react without raising the temperature to an extreme. During this process the substrate or the substance an enzymes reacts upon, binds to the enzyme’s catalytic pocket or active site, and is held together by weak interactions in an enzyme substrate complex. Because the chemical bonds that hold the substrate are disrupted, the amount of energy required to break the bonds is lowered and the reaction occurs faster. The active site converts substrate into product and the reaction repeats.
Therefore changes to the shape of an enzyme hinder its ability to recognize its substrate, which in turn affects its ability to function. These changes usually occur in the external environment of the enzyme: change in temperature, pH level, and ionic concentration. When the changes in the environmental conditions are too extreme, the enzyme denatures meaning it completely loses its ability to function. The purpose of this experiment was to observe how changes in these external environment factors affect an enzyme’s reaction rate. Three different levels of each variable were used to see how liver enzyme catalase reacts with the substrate hydrogen peroxide. This experiment allows scientists to compare low, intermediate, and high levels of temperature, pH, and ionic concentration to determine which level provides an optimal condition versus which level causes the enzyme to