An enzyme is described as a biological catalyst that speeds up the rate of a

chemical reaction. In order for an enzyme to perform its given job, it needs what is
known as a substrate to bind to the active site of the enzyme so that the enzyme
can speed up the reaction of the substrate. In this given experiment, it was to be
tested what impact the concentration level of substrate will have on the reaction
rate. The enzyme catalase, found in potato juice, was used for the catalyst along
with a substrate known as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The job of catalase in this
experiment was to accelerate the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide into water and
oxygen gas. After looking and recording how different concentrations of a substrate
affect the enzymes activity, the results were put into a chart and graph to show our
observations. The given chart and graph shows the different concentration levels of
substrate that were used, along with the time it took for the reaction to occur.

An enzyme is supposed to speed up the reaction, but our observations shows that
the concentration of the substrate also had an effect on how fast the reaction could
occur. When there was zero concentrate of hydrogen peroxide, meaning the solvent
was only water, there was no reaction with the catalase. As the concentration of
hydrogen peroxide increases, the rate of the reaction began to increase. This
occurred because adding amounts of hydrogen peroxide gave the catalase the
opportunity to break down the hydrogen peroxide, where as when there was no
H2O2 present, there was nothing for the catalase to react with. The catalase needs
its specific substrate to bind with in order for a reaction to occur. The shape of the
chart itself shows the decrease in needed reaction time, proving our analysis to be
correct. If we had continued to test out different concentrations of our substrate, the
reaction time would have continued to decrease until the enzyme hit what is known
as the saturation level, which means all the enzymes are working and the reaction
cannot continue to increase because there is no location at that time for the
substrates to bind to. For this experiment, the saturation point was not reached, but
could have if the experiment had continued. From our observations, it could be
conclude that the higher the concentration of substrate, Hydrogen Peroxide there
was in the reaction, the less time was needed for the reaction to occur.

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CITATION

St. Rosemary Educational Institution. "What Effects of Concentrations of a Substrate

on Enzyme Lab Answers." http://schoolworkhelper.net/. St. Rosemary Educational
Institution, Last Update: 2016. Web. Retrieved on: Saturday 15th October 2016.
http://schoolworkhelper.net/what-effects-of-concentrations-of-a-substrate-onenzyme-lab-answers/.