Enzymes

• One way to increase the rate of chemical reactions is to increase the temperature, this is partly why our bodies are a relatively warm 37°C.

  Give two reasons why we can't just make our cells even warmer to increase the rate of reactions?  

  Heating up our cells would require more energy

  Heating up our cells could damage our cells
• Define Catalyst:

  A substance that increases the speed of a reaction, without being changed our used up in the process
• What are Enzymes, and what are they made up of?

  Enzymes are biological catalyst that are made up of living organisms, and also large proteins that are made up of long chains of amino acids
• Why can enzymes speed up a reaction?

  Because they have an active site
• Define Active Site:

  The part of the enzyme which is complementary/able to fit into to the substrate
• What happens if the substrate doesn't fit into the active site?

  the reaction wouldn't be catalysed
• What is the lock and key model?

  The thought that the substrate HAD to fit perfectly into the Active Site of an enzyme
• What is the induced fit model?

  The thought the enzymes actually changes shape slightly as it binds to the substrate