An enzyme is a substance produced by a living organism that acts as a catalyst to

bring about a specific biochemical reaction. It is made up of amino acids and has
an active site, which is a region with a specific shape that binds to a protein or
other substance during a reaction. Potato extract was used because it is a source
of catalase, which is an enzyme that breaks down hydrogen peroxide into water
and oxygen (effervescence). Hot, cold and room temperature baths were used to
test the effect of temperature on enzyme activity.

For the tubes placed in the hot water bath, there was hardly any foam and a
small degree of effervescence. This occurred due to the high temperature causing
the enzyme to become denatured before the observation took place because the
proteins unfolded destroying the active site on the enzyme. For the tubes placed
in the room temperature water bath, a large amount of foam was produced and it
had a high degree of effervescence. This occurred due to the temperature being
the closest to the optimum, which increased the amount of enzyme substrate
interaction. For the tubes placed in the cold water bath, there was just a little
foam and its degree of effervescence was average being less than the room
temperature. This caused the enzyme to be inactive and the substrate did not
move as fast as in the room temperature.