Experimental Procedure
For this experiment, you will need five regular potatoes that are rougly about the same size. Cut each potato into five even slices. Wash the potato thoroughly. Attain some hydrogen peroxide, and five beakers that are large enough so that the potato slice sits comfortably at the bottom.
Place one potato slice in each beaker. Then, measure out the hydrogen peroxide. In one beaker, put 5ml of hydrogen peroxide. Record how much time it takes for you to visibly see the reaction. Do the same for 10ml, 15ml, and 20ml of hydrogen peroxide. Dont put hydrogen peroxide in the last beaker. This will be the control group. Repeat these steps five times, until you get five different timings for each answer. Record the number of seconds it takes for the reaction to occur on a chart.
Place one potato slice in each beaker. Then, measure out the hydrogen peroxide. In one beaker, put 5ml of hydrogen peroxide. Record how much time it takes for you to visibly see the reaction. Do the same for 10ml, 15ml, and 20ml of hydrogen peroxide. Dont put hydrogen peroxide in the last beaker. This will be the control group. Repeat these steps five times, until you get five different timings for each answer. Record the number of seconds it takes for the reaction to occur on a chart.
Chart of Results
Graph of Results
This graph shows the averages of the results. The values on the x axis are actually (0,5,10,15,20) respectively.
Conclusion
In the potato enzyme lab, we found that the more hydrogen peroxide we poured on the potato slice at a given time, the faster the reaction time was. Our hypothesis was supported. It states that the more hydrogen peroxide you add to a potato slice at a given time, the faster the enzymic reaction occurs. We saw a white fizzy substance form on the potato, and we assumed that this was the enzymic reaction. Enzymes are important due to the fact that they allow living things to maintain homeostasis in an easier way, and speed up chemical reactions. This experiment shows how enzymes in the potatoes cause a chemical reaction.This is due to the fact that the hydrogen peroxide triggers the enzymes, which allows the reaction to occur faster. When there is more hydrogen peroxide, then there are more substrates. Each enzyme only reacts with certain substrate that has a matching active site, so the more hydrogen peroxide there is, the greater chance that there will be a substrate that binds perfectly to the active site. Since enzymes speed up reactions, once the enzyme and substrate bond and make the product, the reaction speeds up.