Principle

The enzymatic hydrolysis of urea in aqueous solution yields carbon dioxide and ammonia. The ions of these compounds increase the conductivity of the solution. Conductivity measurements can be used to determine the rates of urea hydrolysis by the enzyme urease at different substrate concentrations. Excessive substrate concentrations lead to substrate inhibition.

Benefits

• Especially understandable and didactically prepared description of the experiment (reference to everyday life etc.) including protocol questions
• Future-oriented teaching: Integration into digital science lessons with tablets or smartphones
• Increased motivation of students by using the intuitive measureAPP
• Increased media competence
• Compact, easily transportable experimental set-up
• Suitable for demo experiments and practical training
• Flexible test execution thanks to wireless data transmission

Tasks

Measurement of conductivity and determination of the rate of urea hydrolysis by the enzyme urease at different substrate concentrations

Learning objectives

• Substrate inhibition
• Urea enzymolysis
• Conductivity diagram
• Enzyme hydrolysis reaction rate