Biology: Enzyme Catalysts

Objectives

• Students will describe the difference between anabolism and catabolism.
• Students will identify factors that affect the rate of chemical reactions.

Vocabulary

• anabolic
• catabolic
• catalase
• catalyst
• denatured
• globular proteins

About the Lesson

In this activity, students will use an enzyme catalase to speed up the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide into oxygen. They will measure the pressure produced by the oxygen that is released in this reaction. Students will draw a conclusion about factors that increase or decrease the rate of this chemical reaction.
As a result, students will:

• Measure and graph changes in gas pressure during a chemical reaction
• Relate the change in gas pressure to the rate of the chemical reaction
• Draw conclusions about which variables affect the rate of reaction.