Enzyme-Catalyzed Reaction

Enzymes serve as catalysts and speed up the rate of chemical reactions that occur in the cells of organisms. Rates of chemical reaction can be influenced by a variety of parameters such as temperature, concentration of reactant molecules, pH, pressure, and enzymes. In this project, you will investigate the relationship between the rate of product formation and pH in an enzyme-catalyzed reaction. To do this, you will need to use a Spec 20 (spectrophotometer) from either the biology or chemistry labs. The instructor will arrange for you to use this equipment under faculty supervision.

You will start with fixed amounts of catechol and catecholase in test tubes exposed to oxygen in the air. However, you will use a different pH buffer in each of the test tubes. You will use a Spec 20 to quantify the amount of product formed during a fixed time interval in each of the test tubes.

Using the data points that you collect during this experiment and a statistical package or a graphing calculator, make a scatterplot with the product formulation as the dependent variable and the pH level as the independent variable.

Does the data set look linear or quadratic?

Fit a line and a quadratic to this data set and discuss which equation best fits the data set. For a reminder of how to choose which equation is best go here.

Find the vertex for the quadratic equation and explain what the vertex represents in this experiment.