How does temperature affect the activity of enzymes in our bodies?

  Students in Teacher Harvey’s EP-M.6 Science class investigated how temperature affects proteins and enzyme activity using chicken liver. Students tested the liver using water at normal/room temperature, 50°C, 70°C, and 100°C, observing how the reaction changed at each temperature. They used their observations to identify the optimum temperature and investigate how increasing heat affects enzyme activity. Through this experiment, students learned that increasing temperature can increase the rate of an enzyme-catalyzed reaction up to an optimum temperature, but at higher temperatures, proteins and enzymes begin to denature and lose their function. Students connected this to the human body, where enzymes generally work best around 37°C, our normal body temperature. This hands-on investigation helped students understand why maintaining an optimum temperature is important for the enzymes that carry out essential processes in our bodies.