Hydrogen Peroxide and Oxygen Levels
by Cristian M, Lianne B, Taylor T, Ben |AP Biology- Period 2
Introduction
In the human body, certain chemical reactions result in in the compound Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2). This is the same substance used in treating wounds, cleaning agents, and can also, unfortunately, damage the cells in our body. However, there are enzymes in the body that prevent harmful amounts of the substance by catalysing the Hydrogen Peroxide, which produce the reactants: water (H2O) and oxygen gas (O2).
Objective
The main pupose of this experiment is to observe the connection and effect of the amount of substrate has on the level of oxygen emitted.
Research Question
How much oxygen is present in the plastic container if the amount of Hydrogen Peroxide was increased and the amount of Catalase remained constant?
Hypothesis
If the concentration of Hydrogen Peroxide is increased, then there will a higher rate of oxygen produced due to there being more substrate for the catalase to work with.
Materials and Method
The materials used in the experiment are as followes:
- Plastic Container
- Hydrogen Perioxide
- Catalase
- Sparklink Oxygen Concentration Measure
- Pipette
- Beaker
- Temperature Measure
- iPad
Results
The experiment data shows that when used a substrate of lower concentrate, excluding the substrate with 0% of H2O2, the amount of oxygen was higher, while a higher concentration resulted in a lower amount of oxygen. Also, on the .9% concentration, the slope of the amount of oxygen peaked and started to shift in becoming constant.
Oxygen Concentrations from Enzyme Catalyzation
Conclusion
Surprisingly, the higher concentrations did not result in higher amounts of oxygen in the plastic container. In order to receive the maximun amount of oxygen there could be certain concentration of H2O2, meaning the concentration can neither be too high nor too low. However, there we would have to test more concentrations that are between, higher, and lower than the concentrations we tested. Another test we could also do could be if we conducted another experiment with more constant temperature, due to the fact that in the experiment the temperature did not remain completely so due to the temperature with the water that was added to the substrate.
References and Acknowledgements
Website used in creating poster: http://www.smore.com
-Much of the the experiment could have been done without the help of Mrs. DeLozier, who guided us through the experiment and helped us with the data graphs.