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Elizabeth Harnett

Kaitlin Cough

What are Enzymes?

Why do they react to the environment the way they do?

When they are at the two extremes they don’t react.

They are extracted from living things and are not known outside of them.

Catalyst enzyme breaks down hydrogen peroxide.

Living things are constantly reacting to their environment…enzymes are used to help stabilize the environment…for example, hydrogen peroxide is very unstable and will blow up if there is nothing to balance it.

The enzyme is breaking down the hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen.

So enzymes aid in the stabilization of the environment of a living organism

Basically the enzymes only work if you work, if a living organism is too hot or too cold, the enzymes are less effective and efficient. They are also less effective if the pH balance is off kilter. Everything has optimal pH and temperature levels for it to work. For this particular enzyme it seems to be around pH 7 and room temperature. For example, would these enzymes be able to balance things in the stomach, where there is a pH balance of 2?

Enzymes break things down to maintain a balance.

The more enzymes there are the faster they break something down. There’s a direct relationship between the amount of enzymes and the time it takes for them to break something down. The more enzymes there are, the faster the hydrogen peroxide was broken down, the oxygen gas was released more quickly, therefore causing the disc to rise faster.