Term paper on Enzyme Activity

Enzyme Activity Essays

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Enzyme Activity

Aim:

To investigate enzyme activity by testing for changes in a starch solution when the enzyme amylase is added and how this reaction is affected by heat, pH, ratios etc.

Background of Enzymes

Enzymes are biological catalysts produced by living cells. Like all catalysts, they greatly speed up all the processes that go on inside living organisms. A single cell may contain 100,000 different enzymes, which are needed to take part in its 1,000 to 2,000 chemical reactions. For example digestive enzymes break down food into simpler substances. Many enzymes work in the opposite way, linking simple substances together to form larger, more complex ones needed to build up tissues. Enzymes themselves are made of protein and each one has a differently shaped active site, where the reaction takes place.

It is this shape which dedicates it to a particular chemical reaction.

This can be described as a lock and key system, whereby the two substances to be linked, the keys, fit into the enzyme, the lock. Only the correctly shaped substances can fit into the lock.

Enzymes work best at different temperatures, which is one of the reasons our bodies are kept at a constant temperature. If there is a change in temperature the enzymes are less, if at all, effective. A fall in temperature results in a lack of energy slowing the reaction down, a rise, and the active site is warped out of shape by the heat.

Diagram of enzyme activity:

1.One substance and 2.Substance fits into enzyme 3.Two separate an enzyme and is broken down substances are released

The bonding of substances works in the opposite direction, two substances and an enzyme, the substances fit into the active site and are joined together, one new substance is released.

Variables

In an experiment such as this there are many variables which will effect the results.

To identify the effect of a specific variable on the reaction I will firstly need to select a variable to change, which consequently, will show me which variables I need to keep constant.

These variables are: Ratio of enzyme to...

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