Lastly, we put phosphatase under different temperature conditions. The increase in temperature increased the rate of reaction up until 50ºC. After 50ºC, the rate of reaction quickly reduced to near 0. Refer to figure 4. The data supports our hypothesis. At temperatures from 0ºC to 50ºC, as temperature increases, so does the kinetic energy of the molecules. With a higher kinetic energy the molecules move faster and more PNPP will collide into phosphatase's active site more often and the reaction would be catalyzed faster. This explains our positive relationship of increasing rate of reaction as we increased temperature. However, temperatures after 50ºC, the rate of reaction due to phosphatase immediately drops to near 0. This can be explained that at high temperatures and high levels of kinetic energy, the tertiary structure of phosphatase is altered along with the active site so PNPP can no longer fit and be catalyzed. Phosphatase is no longer able to catalyze the reaction at these high temperatures and has become denatured. The highest rate of reaction occurred at a temperature at 50ºC. Around 50ºC would be the optimal temperature for phosphatase efficiency, and if found in nature, phosphatase is expected to be in an environment of 50ºC. A follow up experiment could involve finding phosphatase in nature and seeing its environmental temperature to see if it coincides with our optimal temperature. …
