Get Enzyme Simulation Answer Key

The toothpicks represent the substrate and your thumbs and index fingers represent the enzyme, Toothpickase. When you break a toothpick, the place where the toothpick fits between your fingers represents the active site of the enzyme.

4. Assume the toothpicks are a waste product in cells called hydrogen peroxide. The enzyme hands break down the hydrogen peroxide at the average rates observed in your experiment. A cell begins with 100 molecules of hydrogen peroxide molecules before the hand enzymes begin work to break down the waste.

Students model enzyme activity by breaking toothpicks in half. They must only use their thumb and forefinger to break the toothpicks and they are timed at various intervals. In my version, the students observe enzyme activity in normal conditions and when a competitive inhibitor is added (colored toothpicks).

In this activity, you will use a toothpick model to simulate an enzymatic reaction. Your hand will represent the enzyme, the toothpicks are the enzyme's substrate, and the broken toothpicks are the reaction products. Breaking the toothpicks in half with your hand simulates an enzyme breaking down a substrate.

The two models to explain the actions of enzymes with substrates are the Lock and Key model & Induced fit model. In lock and key the enzyme is the lock and the substrate is the key. As with a lock and the key that opens it the shapes must be complementary and this shape can not change.

Control (3 enzymes, 1 assistant): Enzymes in this group will follow the basic procedure exactly. Cold Temperature (3 enzymes, 1 assistant): Before each round, toothpickase enzymes must put their hands in a bucket of ice water for at least 90 seconds.

A toothpick can be broken into 2 products. The rate of the reaction can be measured by counting the amount of product produced or by counting the amount of substrate remaining. There are many factors that affect the rate of an enzyme reaction.

Part 2: Competitive Inhibition Repeat the procedure, but this time add 25 colored toothpicks to the pile. These represent substances the the enzyme (your fingers) can interact with that are not the substrate. The colored toothpicks will not be counted.