Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Dear Science Buddies,

I am currently doing a research project on the effect of enzymes on reaction time. The project involves putting an Alka Seltzer table in varying temperatures of water. I need your help in figuring out what would be the optimal temperature that would produce the fastest reaction time (fastest time the tablet dissolves in water). Thanks in advance.

Regards, Aman Shah

Ashah8 wrote:Dear Science Buddies,

I am currently doing a research project on the effect of enzymes on reaction time. The project involves putting an Alka Seltzer table in varying temperatures of water. I need your help in figuring out what would be the optimal temperature that would produce the fastest reaction time (fastest time the tablet dissolves in water). Thanks in advance.

Regards, Aman Shah

Hi Aman,

The ideal temperature to measure the fastest reaction time depends on the enzyme you're using. However, I'm slightly confused at what your project is trying to focus on. To me, I see two different topics: Effect of Enzymes on Reaction Time (just the enzyme itself) and the Effect of Temperature on Reaction Time (with the varying temperatures of water acting as your levels of the independent variable)!

Perhaps if you elaborate on your experiment more, SciBuddies could help you in a more effective way!

Hope this helped (and don't hesitate to reply!),

JSK

Thanks for responding. The experiment is just concerning the temperature of the water and not the size.

The experiment is basically putting an Alka Seltzer tablet at different temperatures and seeing which one dissolves the fastest. The Alka Seltzer tablet is the enzyme

Hi Ashah8,

Sounds like the goal of the experiment is to find out the optimal temperature. Why don't you select a few (let's say: 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, etc) so that you can create a reaction curve and that way find out the optimal T.

Peter S.

The test range would be 20-100 degrees going by 10's. I just need advice from you as it is required to do so in our project.

Ashah8 wrote:Dear Science Buddies,

I am currently doing a research project on the effect of enzymes on reaction time. The project involves putting an Alka Seltzer table in varying temperatures of water. I need your help in figuring out what would be the optimal temperature that would produce the fastest reaction time (fastest time the tablet dissolves in water). Thanks in advance.

Regards, Aman Shah

Hi,

The previous response is very helpful to get you started on how to test for the optimal temperature.

It also helps to understand what it means to find the optimal temperature. Increasing temperature will increase the reaction. Then, you'll see when it starts to decrease. That point before it decreases is when you have reached your optimal temperature for the reaction. You'll see it best when you plot your observations as previously advised.

Hope this gives you a better idea on how to find it.

Thanks