Principle

The enzymatic hydrolysis of urea in aqueous solution liberates carbon dixide and ammonia. The ions of these compounds increase the conductivity of the solution. Conductivity measurements can so be made to determine the rate of hydrolysis of urea by the enzyme urease at various substrate concentrations.

Benefits


Compact, easily transportable setup

For both demonstration and student experiments

Flexible experimenting thanks to wireless data transmission

Additional experiment in plant physiology and biochemistry can be performed with few modifications

Data acquisition with tablets possible

With detailed experiment guide



Tasks


Measure conductivity changes of urea solutions of different concentrations brought about by the activity of urease and calculate the Michaelis constant


What you can learn about


Michaelis constant

Enzymatic hydrolysis of urea

Conductivity measurement

Bodenstein principle

Enzyme-substrate complex

Lineweaver-Burk plot


Software included. Computer not provided.