Enzymes

Cards (8)

What are enzymes
Biological catalysts - they speed up reactions without being consumed or altered
How are enzymes produced
Enzymes are produced by living organisms to regulate chemical reactions
What is the structure of enzymes
Large proteins composed of amino acid chains, folded into unique shapes that are crucial for their function
How enzymes work
Each enzyme has an active site with a shape that fits substances known as substrates
Enzymes are specific which means one type of enzyme will only fit one type of substrate
What happens to the substrate when it binds to the active site
It breaks up to form the products
Factors affecting the enzyme activity
Temperature
PH
How does temperature affect enzyme activity
Higher temperature = Enzymes and substrates move around quicker which means more collisions per second
Collisions are fastest at the optimum temperature
After the optimum temperature, the enzymes denature and activity decreases
How does PH affect enzyme activity
All enzymes have an optimum PH that they work best in
Before or after this optimum PH the rate of reaction decreases because the enzymes denature