Formative Assessment (Criteria B and C)

MYP Year 5-Biology

Criterion B- /8
Criterion C- /8

Topic: Investigating catalase enzyme activity at pH 2, 7 and 12.

Research question:

Background information:
Hydrogen peroxide is a byproduct of several metabolic reactions in living cells. If
allowed to accumulate it can cause oxidative damage. Therefore, it is constantly
removed by catalase which decomposes it to water and oxygen. Catalase is found in
nearly all living organisms exposed to oxygen. The optimum pH of catalase in potatoes
is about 7. In this lab, the effect of pH 2, 7 and 12 will be observed on the rate of
catalase enzyme activity. The substrate hydrogen peroxide will be reacting with
catalase enzyme extracted from potato.

Hypothesis:

I hypothesize that pH 7 is the optimum pH for catalase enzyme and hence rate of catalase
enzyme will be fastest. pH 2 is the slowest because the enzyme gets denatured, so the substrate
wouldn’t be able to attach since the shape is changed.

Variables:
Independent variable: Different pH( 2, 7, 12)

Dependent variables: Rate of catalase enzyme activity

Table 1: Controlled variables

Controlled variables Method and instrument Effect on result
used
Amount of H2 O2  10ml of H2O2 was measured More amount H2 O2 /

1
 using measuring cylinder  substrate will result in
increase in catalase
enzyme activity and
less amount will result
in decrease of  catalase
enzyme activity. The
test will not be
fair beause we wont b
e sure whether the
result of experiment is
due to change in pH at
change in amount of
H202 
Duration ( 3mins)  A stopwatch to measure the The longer an enzyme
time precisely is incubated with its
substrate, the greater
the amount of product
that will be formed. ...
As a result, the rate of
formation of product
slows down as the
incubation proceeds,
and if the incubation
time is too long, then
the measured activity
of the enzyme is falsely
low.

Material:
1. 1 ruler
2. Catalase from potato
3. 6 % hydrogen peroxide
4. Gloves
5. 6, 10 ml measuring cylinder
6. 1 Mortar and Pestle
7. 1, Pipette dropper
8. Liquid detergent
9. 50 ml pH 2, pH 7 and pH 12.
10. 9 boiling test tube.

Safety precaution:

2
Wear safety glasses, lab coat and gloves during the experiment as hydrogen peroxide and pH 2 is
corrosive.
Mouth of the test tube should be facing away from you and your friends while shaking the test
tube.

Method:

1. Wear your safety glasses and gloves as hydrogen peroxide is corrosive.

2. Take 3 boiling test tube and label them as P1, P2 and P3.
3. Add 1 spatula of grinded potato paste in P 1 test tube.
4. Add 3 drops of liquid detergent in the test tube.
5. Add 10 ml of pH 2 in the boiling test tube.
6. Wait for 3 minutes and then add 10 ml of hydrogen peroxide in the boiling test tube.
7. Shake the test tube sideways. Make sure mouth of the test tube is facing away from you.
8. Wait for 3 minutes and then measure the foam produced with the help of ruler in cm and record
the data in raw data table.
9. Repeat step 3 to 7 for two more trials using P2 and P3 boiling test tube.
10. Repeat step 2 to 8 for pH 7 and 12.

Result:
Raw data table:
Table 2: Amount of foam produced in different pH.
Different pH Number of Foam produce(mm)
trials
2 1 4
2 11
3 3
7 1 50
2 80
3 50.5
12 1 15
2 14
3 20

Processed data table:

Table 3: Average foam produced in different pH

3
 Different pH Average amount of foam produced

2 6

7 60.16

12 49

Graph: ( Use Microsoft excel to convert processed data into graphical form.)

Different Average amount of

 
pH foam produced
2 6.00  
7 60.16  
12 49.00  

Average amount of foam produced

70.00
60.00
50.00
40.00
30.00
20.00
10.00
0.00
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Different ph

Conclusion:
As I hypothesized, pH 7 is the optimum pH for catalase enzyme and hence rate of catalase
enzyme, According to my processed data ( table 3 ), the maximum average foam produced was

4
at pH 7 which was 60.16 mm and minimum at pH 2 which was at 6.00. Line graph shows that
optimum pH for catalase enzyme was at 60.0 by pH 7.