How are enzymes able to accomplish such effective catalysis?
1 Answer
Enzymes are effective catalysts because they speed up a chemical reaction without being used up or changing a reaction in any way!
Explanation:
Enzymes require a specific temperature and pH, (and much more, but these are the two major ones), to effectively decrease the activation energy to stimulate enzyme activity.
-Because they reduce activation energy(the energy to start a reaction), the reaction occurs much faster, making them more effective. Enzymes, overall help in digestion and metabolism(total number of chemical reactions) too because they stress chemical bonds so it's easier for energy to be released. (Basically, they chunk down big molecules)
-Don't forget that specific enzymes (proteins) work on specific substrates (foods) as well! (a lock and key diagram/induced fit hypothesis).
