whats meant by enzymes saturation?

Question

why is it that when an enzyme is saturated,the only way to increase the productivtiy of a reaction is to add more enzyme?what can't enzyme do to a reaction?

Answer 1

At high substrate concentration, the enzyme is said to be saturated. That means the reaction velocity reaches its maximum speed. We are talking about reaction velocity. The enzyme is still doing its thing. If you leave it alone, eventually it will use up all the substrate.

Answer 2

enzyme saturation means that all of the enzymes are occupied by a substrate. so even if there is an increase in substrate concentration, there would be no change in rate of reaction since they can't bind to an enzyme. This is because all of the enzymes are still occupied.

so you can only increase rate of reaction if you add enzymes. These added enzymes are "free" (not bound to a substrate) and can therefore speed up the reaction by binding to the substrates.

your enzyme can't initiate or start a reaction.. it can only speed up one.