Factors affecting enzyme activity

Enzymes are sophisticated catalysts for biological processes. These practicals (and the practicals at intermediate level) give you opportunities to explore how enzyme activity changes in different conditions.

Enzyme experiments often provide real ‘messy’ data, because their activity can change dramatically from one lesson to the next.

Experiments

• Investigating the effect of pH on amylase activity
• Microscale investigations of catalase activity in plant extracts
• Investigating effect of temperature on the activity of lipase
• Investigating an enzyme-controlled reaction: catalase and hydrogen peroxide concentration
• Investigating effect of concentration on the activity of trypsin