Liver Enzyme LAB REPORT
Title:
Enzyme Efficiency in Raw Calf Liver
Purpose:
The purpose of this experiment is to determine the effect temperature has on the rate at which the enzyme catalase breaks down the substrate, hydrogen peroxide (6%)
Hypothesis:
Since a properly functioning liver would have to break down substrates in a living organism, the temperature at which this deposition occurs must be generally mild. With this information, our hypothesis for this experiment would have to be: The flask with the water and liver not influenced by extreme temperature change (flask #2) will show the greatest increase in oxygen release.
Methods Summary Chart:
Independent Variable: Temperature
Dependent Variable: Oxygen gas bubble amount
Method of Measuring Changes in the Dependent Variable: Approximation on scale of 1-10
Control Group: Test tube 1 (water)
Constants: Liver, Test Tubes, Tube rack, Distilled Water, Hydrogen Peroxide, Ice bath, boiling Water bath
Number of Trials: 1 Trial
Materials:
7 Test tubes
1 Test Tube Rack
Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2)
Distilled Water (H2O)
Raw calf liver (YUMM)
Boiling water (hot place, water, beaker)
Ice bath (ice, water, cooler)
Procedure:
1. Prepare the contents needed for each of the 5 test tubes.
a. Test tube #1: Water
b. Test tube #2: Water & Liver
c. Test tube #3: Water & Liver
d. Test tube #4: Water & Liver
e. Test tube #5: Water & Liver
2. Take test tube #4 and place it in the beaker set on top of the hot plate BEFORE any heating occurs to avoid a fiery glass explosion.
3. Take test tube #5 and place it in an ice bath for 15 minutes
4. After all test tubes are at the desired temperatures, add 5 mL hydrogen peroxide to one test tube at a time and record the "levels" of oxygen production that occur
Results:
Enzyme Efficiency in Raw Calf Liver
Purpose:
The purpose of this experiment is to determine the effect temperature has on the rate at which the enzyme catalase breaks down the substrate, hydrogen peroxide (6%)
Hypothesis:
Since a properly functioning liver would have to break down substrates in a living organism, the temperature at which this deposition occurs must be generally mild. With this information, our hypothesis for this experiment would have to be: The flask with the water and liver not influenced by extreme temperature change (flask #2) will show the greatest increase in oxygen release.
Methods Summary Chart:
Independent Variable: Temperature
Dependent Variable: Oxygen gas bubble amount
Method of Measuring Changes in the Dependent Variable: Approximation on scale of 1-10
Control Group: Test tube 1 (water)
Constants: Liver, Test Tubes, Tube rack, Distilled Water, Hydrogen Peroxide, Ice bath, boiling Water bath
Number of Trials: 1 Trial
Materials:
7 Test tubes
1 Test Tube Rack
Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2)
Distilled Water (H2O)
Raw calf liver (YUMM)
Boiling water (hot place, water, beaker)
Ice bath (ice, water, cooler)
Procedure:
1. Prepare the contents needed for each of the 5 test tubes.
a. Test tube #1: Water
b. Test tube #2: Water & Liver
c. Test tube #3: Water & Liver
d. Test tube #4: Water & Liver
e. Test tube #5: Water & Liver
2. Take test tube #4 and place it in the beaker set on top of the hot plate BEFORE any heating occurs to avoid a fiery glass explosion.
3. Take test tube #5 and place it in an ice bath for 15 minutes
4. After all test tubes are at the desired temperatures, add 5 mL hydrogen peroxide to one test tube at a time and record the "levels" of oxygen production that occur
Results:
Conclusion:
Our hypothesis was proven correct due to the test tube uneffected by extreme temperature change showing the greatest increase of oxygen production. The trends shown in this experiment exhibited maximum oxygen production in the flask with little temperature change. The flask boiled in water before the process of deposition did show some production, but not as much as the one that we did not put under environmental pressures. This is the same for the flask put in an ice bath. Some errors that could have occured could have led to an uneven distribution of liver mass in each flask, or an uneven volume of substrate in each flask. This could have effected the rate of the reaction and influenced the experiment. If our group were to do this experiment again, a really interesting thing to test this time would be the effect of acidity on reaction time, or the effect of different animal livers on reaction time.
Connection to Class Content:
During the biochemistry unit, we learned much of the importance of enzymes. They are the reason why large organisms such as humans can have such efficient metabolisms. We learned that substrates are what enzymes react upon. The efficiency of such a reaction depends on a few things, such as temperature, pH, and concentration. In this experiment, we are testing the effect of temperature on the rate of the reaction that occurs in a calf liver between catalase (enzyme) and hydrogen peroxide (substrate).
The flask that was set to room temperature showed the greatest oxygen bubble production.