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Biology Lab Report

DP1 2016-2017

Objective
The objective of this experiment and research is to determine the effect of
changing the amount of substrate in a chemical reaction involving H2O2
(Hydrogen Peroxide) and Catalase, enzyme present in Potatoes.
Research Question
What effect is produced when manipulating the amount of substrate in a
chemical reaction, as measuring the concentration of oxygen?
Hypothesis
Increasing the amount of substrate (hydrogen peroxide) will speed up the
rate of the chemical reaction occurring where the enzyme Catalase is
involved as well. This theory is reinforced and formulated based on the in-
class lessons, consisting in increasing the amount of a substrate in a
chemical reaction will produce an increase in the collision between
substrate and the active site of the enzyme.

Variables
Variable Type Variable Range
Independent Hydrogen Peroxide 1ml 5ml
H2O2
Dependent Oxygen Concentration 20.9% 24.7%

Controlled Method Reason

Amount of Potato Weighting three grams Leave the independent variable
for every trial. as the only factor responsible of
changes in the reaction.
Digital Weighing Making sure it is To maintain and control the
Scale calibrated. amount of potato (Solanum
tuberosum) involved in the
chemical reaction.
Oxygen Sensor Checking it is working To be sure one is getting a
 properly and precise and real measure of the
calibrated in an oxygen present.
adequate manner.
Time Running every trial Having the same time for all
for three minutes, the trials will let us compare
measuring time the effect of one specific
with a digital variable.
chronometer.
Concentration Getting the To not alter the rate of
of Hydrogen chemical with a 2% chemical reactions in
Peroxide of concentration. different trials involving the
same amount of H2O2

Materials
1 Potato (solanum tuberosum) Digital weighing scale
1 measuring cylinder (5ml) 1 Erlenmeyer Flask
Sparkvue Oxygen Probe Digital Chronometer
75 ml of Hydrogen Peroxide Laptop with Sparkvue app
H2O2
1 dropper blu tack
Vegetable scraper 1 Petri dish
Methodology
1. Put all the materials on the table. Start grasping the potato.
2. Turn on the Laptop and open the Sparkvue program. Connect the
sensors and equipment to the computer and make sure it is calibrated
and working.
3. Weigh 3.0 grams of potato in the digital weighing scale and then put it
into the Erlenmeyer flask.
4. Pour 1.0 ml of Hydrogen Peroxide into the Erlenmeyer flask and
immediately start measuring the oxygen concentration with the Oxygen
Probe (sensor). Introduce the sensor inside the Erlenmeyer flask and
be sure to seal all the places through where oxygen can escape.
5. Record the changes in Oxygen Concentration during 3 minutes exactly
with the Sparkvue Application. Repeat 4 times more until getting 5 valid
trials.
6. Dispose in a proper way the wastage of the trial. Wash the Erlenmeyer
flask and other equipment involved.
 7. Repeat the same procedure with 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0 ml instead of 1.0
ml. Get 5 valid trials for each quantity of Hydrogen Peroxide.

Safety
Washed my hands before and after the experiment. Small quantities of
Hydrogen Peroxide were used for this experiment, so there is no need of
protective equipment (any trial involved more than 5ml). As the potato had
to be peeled, a vegetable scraper was used instead of a knife. Equipment
used was washed before and after the experiment. There was no real risk
involved in this investigation.
Ethical aspect
There are no ethical implications in this experiment. No animals were
involved.
Environmental issues
There is no impact to the environment when realizing this experiment as
only one potato, 75ml of Hydrogen Peroxide and a small quantity of water
was used.

Qualitative Data
Amount 1.0 ml 2.0ml 3.0ml 4.0ml 5.0ml
of
substrate
Changes A few Small Bubbling Bubblin Foam is
Observab small bubbles is g formed
le bubbles start notorious increase after the
are arising after the s and first
formed at first looks minute
the minute like
bottom foam
Quantitative Data
First Round of trials. 1 ml of Hydrogen Peroxide
Oxygen
Duration of each trial: 180 seconds Concentration %
Trial
No. Weight (Potato) grams Amount of Substrate Beginning End
1 3.00 g 1.00 ml 20.6 21.9
2 2.99 g 1.00ml 20.9 22.5
3 2.99 g 1.00 ml 21.1 22.2
4 3.00 g 1.00 ml 21 22.2
5 3.01 g 1.00 ml 20.9 22.6
Second Round of trials. 2 ml of Hydrogen Peroxide
Oxygen
Duration of each trial: 180 seconds Concentration %
Trial
No. Weight (Potato) grams Amount of Substrate Beginning End
1 3.00 g 2.00 ml 20.9 22.8
2 3.00 g 2.00 ml 21.2 22.8
3 2.99 g 2.00 ml 20.9 23
4 3.00 g 2.00 ml 20.5 22.9
5 3.01 g 2.00 ml 20.2 22.7
Third round of trials. 3 ml of Hydrogen Peroxide
Oxygen
Duration of each trial: 180 seconds Concentration %
Trial
No. Weight (Potato) grams Amount of Substrate Beginning End
1 3.00 g 3.00 ml 20.3 23.1
2 3.00 g 3.00 ml 20.5 22.9
3 3.01 g 3.00 ml 20.3 23.2
4 3.00 g 3.00 ml 20.4 22.9
5 3.01 g 3.00 ml 20.7 23.2
Fourth round of trials. 4 ml of Hydrogen Peroxide
Oxygen
Duration of each trial: 180 seconds Concentration %
Trial
No. Weight (Potato) grams Amount of Substrate Beginning End
1 3.00 g 4.00 ml 21.3 24.3
2 2.99 g 4.00 ml 21.1 23.5
 3 2.99 g 4.00 ml 21 23.8
4 3.00 g 4.00 ml 20.7 23.7
5 3.00 g 4.00 ml 20.8 24.1
Fifth round of trials. 5 ml of Hydrogen Peroxide
Oxygen
Duration of each trial: 180 seconds Concentration %
Trial
No. Weight (Potato) grams Amount of Substrate Beginning End
1 3.00 g 5.00 ml 21.6 26.4
2 2.99 g 5.00 ml 21.5 26.8
3 3.00 g 5.00 ml 20.6 25.7
4 3.00 g 5.00 ml 21 25.5
5 3.00 g 5.00 ml 21.3 25.3
Standard deviation for the first run: : 0.5405 Mean Value: 21.8

1st. Run 5 trials. 1ml

250000 23

200000 22.5

150000 22

100000 21.5

50000 21

0 20.5

O2 Concentration % O2 Concentration ppm O2 Concentration %

O2 Concentration ppm O2 Concentration % O2 Concentration ppm
O2 Concentration % O2 Concentration ppm O2 Concentration ppm
O2 Concentration %

Standard deviation for the second run: : 0.5251 Mean Value: 21.9
 2nd. run 5 trials 2ml
250000 23
200000 22.5
22
150000
21.5
100000
21
50000 20.5
0 20

O2 Concentration % O2 Concentration ppm O2 Concentration %

O2 Concentration ppm O2 Concentration % O2 Concentration ppm
O2 Concentration % O2 Concentration ppm O2 Concentration ppm
O2 Concentration %

Standard deviation for the third run: : 0.8526 Mean

value: 22.3

Third Run 5 trials 3 ml

250000 23.5
23
200000 22.5
22
150000
21.5
21
100000
20.5
50000 20
19.5
0 19

O2 Concentration % O2 Concentration ppm O2 Concentration %

O2 Concentration ppm O2 Concentration % O2 Concentration ppm
O2 Concentration % O2 Concentration ppm O2 Concentration ppm
O2 Concentration %

Standard deviation for the fourth run: :0.6872 Mean

Value: 22.4
 Fourth run 5 trials 4ml
300000 25

250000 24
23
200000
22
150000
21
100000
20
50000 19
0 18

O2 Concentration % O2 Concentration ppm O2 Concentration %

O2 Concentration ppm O2 Concentration % O2 Concentration ppm
O2 Concentration % O2 Concentration ppm O2 Concentration ppm
O2 Concentration %

Standard deviation for the fifth run: :1.0735 Mean Value:

22.7

Fifth run 5 trials 5 ml

300000 30
250000 25
200000 20
150000 15
100000 10
50000 5
0 0

O2 Concentration % O2 Concentration ppm O2 Concentration %

O2 Concentration ppm O2 Concentration % O2 Concentration ppm
O2 Concentration % O2 Concentration ppm O2 Concentration ppm
O2 Concentration %

Interpretation
The independent variable shows a proportional relationship with the rate of
Chemical reactions taking place. The experiment seems to be accurate and
the results can be taken as reliable.
Uncertainties
The composition of the air in the room were the experiment took place might
slightly alter the results. Equipment used is from the school and it is in
constant use. Even after cleaning and washing the equipment, there might
still be some chemical residues changing our results.
Conclusions
There is a positive correlation between the amount of substrate involved
and the speed rate of the chemical reaction. As the amount of Hydrogen
Peroxide is increased the rate of reaction follows a proportional growth.
Thus, this validates the hypothesis previously stated. A greater amount of
substrate increases the frequency of the collisions between enzymes and
substrate
Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths:
Advanced equipment was used during the experiment, such as the
Oxygen Probe and the digital weighing scale.
Hydrogen peroxide was obtained from a reliable source, making sure it
had the concentration requested.
Guidance and instructions from the teacher were constantly received,
reducing the probability of making mistakes.
Weaknesses:
Hydrogen Peroxide was constantly being manipulated, altering its
pureness and resulting in a different concentration than the one
requested.
When measuring the oxygen concentration, oxygen would eventually
escape from the flask when putting sensor in.
There was a shortage of Hydrogen Peroxide, which made this
experiment to have available a really small amount of it. Changes in
variables measured are not so clear because of this reason.

Improvements and Extensions

This experiment can be improved by many ways such as:
1. Running trials in a more adequate container because with the Erlenmeyer Flask,
there was an unwanted escape of oxygen.
2. Not altering the concentration of Hydrogen Peroxide, preventing its
contamination by not opening the container in where it was found by not
exposing it to elements in the environment.
3. More than 5 trials can be effectuated per each quantity of substrate to get a more
accurate and reliable result.
4. Using adequate amounts of Chemicals to get clearer changes, reinforcing or
refuting the existent hypothesis.
As an extension, another experiment can be performed by using a different enzyme
and substrate, to understand and to prove a general application for the finding of the
research.

*Graphs include error bars.