Chm045.

1 BIOCHEMISTRY

Name: CARL ANTHONY M. ESPANTO Date: OCTOBER 28, 2020

Activity # 4 Enzyme Activity and Behavior

Objectives: (Write your Objectives)

1. To observe the enzymatic reaction of hydrogen peroxide and yeast.

2. To analyse the factors involves in the enzymatic reaction.

INTRODUCTION:

Enzymes are biological catalyst. The most important function of protein is catalysis and and
the most efficient of all is enzyme. They speed up reaction by lowering the activation energy. The
first step to enzyme-catalyze reaction is binding of the enzyme to the substrate to form a complex.
The formation leads to enzyme substrate complex and in turn forms into a product. The kinetics
of many enzyme catalyzed reactions can be described by the Michaelis- Menten model. In this
model the concept of the steady state, with the constant contribution of the enzyme-substrate
complex plays a vital role. Enzyme function to produce products are important. In this activity you
are going to discover it.

MATERIALS:

 Food dye/coloring  Liquid  Hydrogen

 1 tablespoon or a dishwashing soup peroxide
pack of yeast  4 pcs of plastic (3% solution)
 Empty glass cup bottles (preferably  Empty glass cup
 Plastic plate/ long and clean)  Wooden rod/
paper plate stirring rod

Procedure:
PROCEDURE:

Pour 10 drops
of food
coloring/ dye
in the bottle

1. In a long and clean plastic bottle pour at least ½ 2. Pour also 15mL of liquid dishwashing
cup of 3% hydrogen peroxide and 10 drops of food soup and mix all the solutions together.
coloring.

3. In an empty glass of cup pour at least half cup of 4. Stir the solution of yeast and water
warm water. Add the 1 tablespoon or one pack of thoroughly for 30 seconds.
yeast.

NOTE: The unreacted hydrogen

peroxide can irritate the skin and
eyes, so I used only 3% solution of
hydrogen peroxide in which it is used
as medical purposes for cut and
scrape.

5. In the last part, pour the yeast solution to the glass

bottle with the hydrogen peroxide solution. Wait and
observe the chemical reaction.
DATA and RESULTS:

When hydrogen peroxide breaks down, it turns into oxygen (O2) and water (H2O). Normally
this breakdown happens very slowly. One of the important function of enzyme is that it can act
as a catalyst. This catalyst is important in the chemical reactions in terms of speeding up the rate
of reaction. In this experiment, the yeast acts as the catalyst to remove or separate the water
from hydrogen peroxide.

As what we can observe in the experiment, it forms a foam and bubbles, when the hydrogen
peroxide comes into contact with the yeast it starts breaking down into water and oxygen.
Oxygen is a gas and therefore wants to escape the liquid. The dish soap that you added to your
reaction, however, traps these gas bubbles, forming a foam. The reaction continues as long as
there is some hydrogen peroxide and yeast left. Once one of them runs out it stops making new
foam. Since I only used 3% of solution of hydrogen peroxide, I can touch the bubbles and based
on my observation it creates heat which we can described as exothermic reaction.

CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, enzyme functioning as catalyst is very important process or tool for any
chemical reactions that takes place, it can usually present in in all living organisms such as
potatoes, animals and even in our human body. That is why you see the 3% hydrogen peroxide
bubble when you put it on a cut or scrape. The oxygen released is what kills the germs in the
cut. We have this enzyme because we naturally produce low amounts hydrogen peroxide as a
byproduct of oxidative metabolism (the way that a cell gains useful energy). Our cells need
energy, but low amounts of hydrogen peroxide are produced and need to be neutralized through
enzymes like Catalase.