The Effect of Temperature on Enzymes

... ch heat there will be twice as many collisions and therefore the rate of reaction will double. This will only be so until the enzyme denatures after its optimum temperature: 40 - 45°C.

Predictions: I predict that the enzyme will become denatured, and therefore will work at a slower rate after 40 - 45°C. I think the reason for this prediction is because every enzyme has a temperature range of optimum activity. Outside that temperature range the enzyme is rendered inactive. This occurs because as the temperature changes enough energy is supplied to break some of the molecular bonds. When these forces are disturbed and changed the active site becomes altered in its ability to accommodate the substrate molecules it was intended to catalase. Most enzymes in a human body shut down beyond certain temperatures. This can happen if body temperature gets too low (hypothermia), or too high (hypothermia). From my background knowledge it is evident that as temperature increases, the rate of reaction also increases. However, the stability of the protein also decreases due to thermal degradation. Holding the enzyme at a high enough temperature for a long period of time may cook the enzyme. Reaction rate is the speed at which the reaction proceeds toward equilibrium. For an enzyme-catalysed reaction, the rate is usually expressed in the amount of product produced per minute. The energy barrier between reactions and products governs reaction rate. In general, energy must be added to the reactants to overcome the energy barrier. This added energy is termed "activation energy", and is recovered as the reactants pass over the barrier and descend to the energy level of the products. Enzymes can accelerate the rate of a reaction. Catalysts accelerate the rates of reactions by lowering the activation energy barrier between reactants and products. All chemical reactions speed up as the temperature is raised. As the temperature increases, more of the reacting molecules have enough kinetic energy to undergo the reaction. Since enzymes are catalysts for chemical reactions, enzyme reactions also tend to go ...