Enzymes Essay

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What are enzymes? Enzymes are generated by a living organism that behaves as a catalyst to carry out a clear biochemical reaction. Enzymes increases the rate of chemical reactions by lowering the free energy barrier that separates the reactants and products.Enzymes are the tools of nature and they help in breaking down our food. They speed up all necessary biological activities. The enzymes in the stomach, as an example make certain that food is break down into smaller fleck that can be transformed into energy in the body. Wherever a substance needs to be converted into any other substance, nature put to use the enzymes to increase the speed of the process. Enzymes are the workhorses of the body. When we eat, enzymes break down the food into smaller particles which can be changed into energy in the body. The activity starts in the mouth, where an enzyme called amylase strike all incoming food flecks. The collapse of food is a vital part of the transformation of food into energy. Undigested food is unfit to pass on the energy deposit within it. The enzymes involved in the digestion process carry out the final cutting of the food particles so that they can be easily converted into the essential energy needed by all parts of our body. 1. Mechanism of enzyme action: Enzymes are catalysts. So they help making a biochemical reactions work faster than they would otherwise. Sometimes the required reactions would not occur at all without the support of enzymes. Being catalysts also means that enzymes are not part of the actual product. They make things happen. When the job is done, enzymes are ready to catalyze a new biochemical reaction. Every enzyme has a particular function. One of the unique ... ... middle of paper ... ...n, known as theInitial Reaction Rate is the maximum reaction rate for an enzyme in anexperimental situation. Substrate Concentration • Increasing Substrate Concentration increases the rate of reaction. This is because more substrate molecules will be colliding with enzyme molecules, so more product will be formed. • However, after a certain concentration, any increase will have no effecton the rate of reaction, since Substrate Concentration will no longer be the limiting factor. The enzymes will effectively become saturated, and will be working at their maximum possible rate. Enzyme Concentration • Increasing Enzyme Concentration will increase the rate of reaction, asmore enzymes will be colliding with substrate molecules. • However, this too will only have an effect up to a certain concentration, where the Enzyme Concentration is no longer the limiting factor.

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