Today we did our competitive lab. The goal was to get catalase to break down hydrogen peroxide at the fastest rate. Each class had a winning team that received AMAZING prizes from the Grab Bag of Science! The winning combination in all classes seemed to be a pH around 9 and a substrate temperature between 42 and 50 degrees Celsius. This was unexpected since our enzyme came from potatoes that have a pH around 6 and a temperature of about 19 C, but that was what our data showed.
Hopefully you spent time in lab thinking about enzyme function and the ideal range of temperature and pH for enzyme activity. I also enjoyed overhearing conversations about potentially denaturing the enzymes and how that would affect its functionality.
On Monday we will analyze what we have learned about enzymes and discuss allosteric regulation in those classes where it did not come up on block day.
There is no assigned homework, but I recommend that you get out and enjoy the nice weather on Saturday. How about checking out the Issaquah Salmon Days?
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