Biology · Enzymes. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.
The rate of an enzyme reaction depends on how often substrate molecules meet free active sites, and on whether the enzyme keeps its shape. So the rate changes with enzyme concentration, substrate concentration, temperature and pH. Each enzyme works fastest at its optimum temperature and optimum pH. Too much heat, or a pH far from the optimum, breaks the weak bonds that hold the shape of the enzyme: it is denatured.
An inhibitor is a substance that slows or stops an enzyme. Inhibitors are reversible (competitive or non-competitive) or irreversible.
Enzymes are named and classified by the type of reaction they catalyse.
Students say low temperature denatures enzymes. Cold only slows the molecules, and the enzyme works again when warmed; denaturation by high temperature is a change of shape that is usually permanent.
Answer: 30 mg of product per minute.
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