Background:
Definite experimental evidence exists to show that manganese dioxide is indeed a catalyst in this reaction. Consider the formula of hydrogen peroxide(H2O2) and the high reaction of manganese dioxide powder with hydrogen peroxide.
2(H2O2) yields yields 2 volumes of liquid+one volume of gas+energy

Do you know the answers to these questions:
What are the most likely products of the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide?

What additional information do the low reaction of hydrogen peroxide+fresh potato and the medium reaction of ground potato+hydrogen peroxide provide about the incidence of biochemical catalysts outside the animal kingdom?

Im asking for answers because I tend to get the material alot better when I reflect on how I get to the conclusion than taking it step by step.
If that really isnt acceptable, then I'd like help.

The decomposition of H202 will most likely yield 2H+20. As for the other question... we just got into catalysts and enzymes, so I can't really help.

Actually, when H₂O₂ breaks down, it does so according to the equation:

2H₂O₂ --> 2H₂O + O₂

Or just hydrogen peroxide breaking down to form water and oxygen gas; one liquid, one gas, as stated in the question. The reaction is exothermic, so energy is released as well.

As for the second question, I'm assuming what it means is that reacting H₂O₂ with a fresh potato yielded a lower amount of energy than reacting it with a ground potato. In that case, you can say that there's likely to be a catalyst present in the second reaction that has caused the reaction to happen faster, hence why it was a 'medium' reaction compared to a 'low' reaction. When you look at the two, the only difference was that the potato was ground, which means you've increased the surface area of the potato. If the potato were to contain a catalyst for the reaction then increasing its surface area would mean more catalyst can come into contact with the H₂O₂, thus making the reaction progress faster. As this is exactly what was observed, it seems reasonable to conclude there is some sort of catalyst present in the potato, suggesting that there are biological catalysts outside of the animal kingdom.



If you don't understand any of that then I can try and explain it better.

No, it's ok. I got the answer. It was actually way simpler than what you guys said. And to tell the truth, both of you guys were wrong. Thanks for the help, though ^.^