Enzymes

• Enzymes


  Catalysts produced by living things
• Enzymes are what make things work
• Enzymes are catalysts produced by living things
• Eggs have thousands of different enzymes
• Enzymes need to be combined to get the right amounts of substances
• How enzymes work


  1. Increase the rate of a reaction

  2. Increase the temperature

  3. Increase the substrate concentration
• Enzymes reduce the activation energy needed for a reaction
• Enzymes


  • Have special shapes so they can catalyse reactions
  • Only work with specific substrates (high specificity)
• Lock and key mechanism

  The substrate has to fit into the enzyme's active site, just like a key fits into a lock
• Temperature increases


  Rate of enzyme-catalysed reaction increases
• Temperature gets too high


  Enzyme becomes denatured (bonds holding it together break, changing the shape of the active site)
• Optimum temperature


  The temperature at which an enzyme works best
• pH changes


  Interferes with the bonds holding the enzyme together, changing the shape of the active site and denaturing the enzyme
• Optimum pH


  The pH at which an enzyme works best
• Substrate concentration increases


  Rate of reaction increases (up to a point)
• After a certain substrate concentration, there are so many substrate molecules that the enzymes have about as much as they can handle (all the active sites are full)