Joanne Kim

Toothpickase: An Introduction to Enzymes

Problem/Purpose: The experimenters will be the enzymes and their fingers will be the active
site where the enzyme catalyzes the substrate, which in this case are the toothpicks. This
experiment will demonstrate how enzymatic rate of reactions can be calculated and how various
factors affect the rate of reaction.

Results/Data:

Table 1: Toothpickase Activity
Interval Time (sec) Cumulative Time
(sec)
# TPs Broken Total Broken
10 10 2 2
20 30 11 13
30 60 18 31
60 120 36 67

Table 2: Rate of Toothpickase Activity
Time (sec) Rate (#TPs/sec)
0-10 1/5
30-60 3/5


Table 3: Toothpickase Activity (enzyme inhibition)
Interval Time (sec) Cumulative Time
(sec)
# TPs Broken Total Broken
10 10 3 3
20 30 3 6
30 60 2 18
60 120 13 21

Table 4: Rate of Toothpickase Activity (enzyme inhibition)
Time (sec) Rate (#TPs/sec)
0-10 3/10
30-60 1/15

Table 5: Toothpickase Activity (double enzyme concentration)
Interval Time (sec) Cumulative Time
(sec)
# TPs Broken Total Broken
10 10 15 15
20 30 25 40
30 60 32 72
60 120 69 141

Table 6: Rate of Toothpickase Activity (double enzyme concentration)
Time (sec) Rate (#TPs/sec)
0-10 1.5/1
30-60 16/15



Analysis Questions:
What happened to the reaction rate as the supply of unbroken toothpicks diminishes?
Why did this happen?
o Slowed down because there wasnt enough reactants to accommodate the time
What do you think would happen to the reaction rate if there were 2,000 toothpicks to
begin with? (Think about the rate of the toothpickase: does it have a limited rate of can it
keep getting faster and faster?)
o There would be a high rate because theres more to accommodate the time
What happened to the reaction rate where there were 2 toothpickase enzymes working?
Why did this happen?
o There was a higher working rate because there were 2 enzymes instead of one.
What happened to the reaction rate when the toothpickase was wearing gloves? Why did
this happen?
o There was a lower working rate because the inhibition and restriction that the
glove was creating
What do you think would happen to the reaction rate if the enzyme could separate the
products and reactants: Why?
o The working rate would be higher and the enzyme would be more efficient.
What do you think would happen to the reaction rate if dissecting pins or plastic
toothpicks were mixed in with the wooden toothpicks? Why?
o The working rate would be lower because plastic toothpicks are harder to break.
What do you think would happen to the reaction rate if toothpickase wrapped double-
sided tape around its fingers? Why?
o The working rate would be higher because it would be easier to pick up the
toothpicks.

Conclusion:
An enzyme working by itself would result in a normal working rate. When the enzyme is being
restricted by an inhibition, the result of the working rate would be lower than the normal rate.
When an enzyme is working with another enzyme to catalyze chemical activity, the working rate
would be higher than the normal rate.