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Will someone give me a definition of how enzymes work please, thanx!

2006-12-11 02:26:59 · 4 answers · asked by Michele 3 in Science & Mathematics Chemistry

4 answers

How Enzymes Work:

Amino Acids, Proteins, and Biochemistry

Amino acids are organic compounds made of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and (in some cases) sulfur bonded in characteristic formations. Strings of 50 or more amino acids are known as proteins, large molecules that serve the functions of promoting normal growth, repairing damaged tissue, contributing to the body's immune system, and making enzymes. The latter are a type of protein that functions as a catalyst, a substance that speeds up a chemical reaction without participating in it. Catalysts, of which enzymes in the bodies of plants and animals are a good example, thus are not consumed in the reaction.

Catalysts

In a chemical reaction, substances known as reactants interact with one another to create new substances, called products. Energy is an important component in the chemical reaction, because a certain threshold, termed the activation energy, must be crossed before a reaction can occur. To increase the rate at which a reaction takes place and to hasten the crossing of the activation energy threshold, it is necessary to do one of three things.

The first two options are to increase either the concentration of reactants or the temperature at which the reaction takes place. It is not always feasible or desirable, however, to do either of these things. Many of the processes that take place in the human body, for instance, normally would require high temperatures—temperatures, in fact, that are too high to sustain human life. Imagine what would happen if the only way we had of digesting starch was to heat it to the boiling point inside our stomachs! Fortunately, there is a third option: the introduction of a catalyst, a substance that speeds up a reaction without participating in it either as a reactant or as a product. Catalysts thus are not consumed in the reaction. Enzymes, which facilitate the necessary reactions in our bodies without raising temperatures or increasing the concentrations of substances, are a prime example of a chemical catalyst.

2006-12-11 02:31:36 · answer #1 · answered by Som™ 6 · 1 0

Enzymes are proteins that act as catalysts. A catalyst is a chemical that takes part in a chemical reaction but remains unchanged. For instance pure hydrogen gas will not burn, but if there is a water molecule around, it can act as a catalyst and the hydrogen will burn, producing water vapor which also acts as a catalyst.

How the first water molecule got there is a chicken and egg kind of question.

Get up in the morning and see the sun,
High up in the air.

Hardly ain't a person that's tall enough,
To hang it way up there.

Gotta be a great Somebody,
Could'a hung the sun up there.

You didn't do it and I didn't do it.
Gotta be a Lord somewhere.

2006-12-11 02:43:31 · answer #2 · answered by The Bird 3 · 0 0

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2016-12-11 06:51:40 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 0 0

short version enzymes alter their substrate while they stay the same-thats what I recall from doing my L.C 6 months ago...

2006-12-11 02:45:03 · answer #4 · answered by Dude 2 · 0 0

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