Sea Salt Vs. Catecholase

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Sea Salt vs. Catecholase Introduction This experiment was done to explore the hypothesis: “Salt will decrease the efficiency of the catecholase enzyme, in the catechol and catecholase solution, resulting in a smaller amount of light being absorbed.” Through a biology lecture on enzymes and the process of denaturing with pH, heat and salt, one of our team members, posed the question; “Would different types of salt (such as sea salt ) change the rate of enzymatic activity, in terms of denaturing?" Professor Crowell-Murray explained that “sea salt doesn't contain iodine and is processed differently than iodized table salt”, therefore she wasn't sure if sea salt would change the rate at which enzymes work. She was intrigued by the question and said that if possible, “it was something that should be experimented." She stressed her interest in obtaining the results of such an experiment. It was also stated by Professor Bob Prior that “it is possible for salt to hurt an enzyme due to the fact that salt can change the polarity of certain parts of an enzyme.” Over time, salt tends to denature certain enzymes, making them less efficient catalysts. This is one of the key reasons that our hypothesis states tha salt will cause the enzyme to be less effectual. Our lab group felt compelled to find an answer. We used Morton's Sea Salt in our experiment because the Morton Company has been in the salt business for over 160 years. They have a very informative website in which we were able to resource valuable information on the differences of sea and table salt (Mortonsalt.com). The major variance in the two types of salt is the way they are harvested. Table salt is taken from terrestrial salt deposits that are mined, heat-blasted and chemically treated. In this procedure, table salt is stripped of all minerals other than sodium chloride, leaving the final product 99.9 % Na Cl

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